Norway

Norway are a historically inconsistent international side who have nonetheless produced some of Europe’s most naturally gifted attackers, including the most prolific striker in Bundesliga history, Erling Haaland, whose goals-to-games ratio defies reasonable statistical expectation.

The question of whether Norway can build a coherent team around Haaland is the defining question of Norwegian football in the 2020s. Haaland scored 10 goals in 2026 World Cup qualifying and is still only 25 during the tournament itself. Martin Odegaard, who captains Arsenal and has become one of the Premier League’s most important midfielders, provides the playmaking intelligence the team needs to unlock opponents. The combination of Haaland’s movement and Odegaard’s passing is, on paper, one of the most dangerous in international football.

Norway’s World Cup history is modest by northern European standards. They qualified for France 1998 and reached the round of sixteen before losing to Italy 1-0 on a Vieri goal. The 1999 Women’s World Cup title, won in front of a home crowd in Oslo, was the national game’s greatest single moment. The men’s team has spent much of the 2000s and 2010s in qualification purgatory, failing to reach major tournaments despite possessing players good enough to do so.

The 2026 cycle is different. This is the best squad Norway have assembled in twenty years, and for the first time in a generation, the expectation is of qualification rather than hope of it. Failing to make the most of a prime-age Haaland and Odegaard simultaneously would be one of the more remarkable qualification failures in UEFA history.

Norway operates on Central European Time, UTC+1 in winter and UTC+2 in summer. A 20:45 kickoff in Oslo is 19:45 in London and 14:45 in New York. Check Norway time for your local conversion.