A member of Norway’s national men’s football team has been indicted and faces a prison term in Denmark for sharing a video of sexual contact involving minors. That’s not stopping him, however, from playing in an important World Cup qualifier this week.

The 21-year-old Andreas Schjelderup will still be included in pre-match training and in the match against Estonia’s national team. It’s set to play out Thursday evening with lots of pomp and patriotism before King Harald and a packed national stadium in Oslo, followed by another qualifier against Italy in Milan on Sunday. Norway’s team looks likely to finally be able to play in World Cup competition for the first time in decades, and Schjelderup will remain part of it.

Head coach Ståle Solbakken, shown here on an earlier occasion, has decided to let his errant player take part in the next week of training and qualifiers for the World Cup. PHOTO: NFF

“I have no doubt it’s the right thing to do,” head coach and manager Ståle Solbakken told reporters at a press conference Monday afternoon. “He will be part of the gathering here (in Oslo) and part of the team.” When asked why, given the seriousness of the charges against him, Solbakken said it was because “he has done something very stupid and Andreas knows that very well himself,” and seemed to be making amends.

Solbakken, rapping his fingers on the podium as he spoke, said there “is no excuse for what he’s done,” adding that “Andreas has had a dialogue with police” and has “laid himself flat” in admitting to his mistake.

Football boss Lise Klaveness, shown here at an NHO meeting last year, had to face reporters again on Monday after the scandal around player Andreas Schjelderup grabbed headlines. PHOTO: NTB Kommunikasjon/NHO/Alf Simensen2024

Lise Klaveness, president of Norway’s national football federation NFF, had indicated much the same earlier in the day. “Andreas Schjelderup has made a mistake, a very serious mistake” for which he’s criminally liable, she said, adding that Schjelderup is due to appear in court in Denmark on November 19. She said he risks fines and a suspended jail term of up to seven days.

She said she also feels confident, however, “in our evaluation that we won’t sanction him in addition to that.” The Portuguese football club for which Schjelderup now plays professionally, Benefica in Lisbon, is also supporting him.

The trouble began in May of last year, when he was still living in Denmark and playing for the Danish club Nordsjælland. Schjelderup revealed on social media himself during the weekend that he had received “a short video” and forwarded it to a friend within a matter of seconds, allegedly without thinking more about it. He wrote that his friend, however, quickly responded that it was illegal to send such a video and that he deleted it at once.

Schjelderup claimed he never intended to spread the video, which featured “two young men,” and sent it without thinking. When Danish police contacted him earlier this year, he claims to have “told the truth” and has since cooperated with them. He was charged, expects to be sentenced soon and thinks he’ll receive a suspended jail term. He wrote that he has publicly apologized to those affected by the video and to his friends, family, employers, “my country and all the fans I’ve disappointed.”

Not everyone thinks Schjelderup should be allowed to play for Norway, especially given all the national ceremony planned around the upcoming match on Thursday. NFF’s secretary general Karl-Petter Løken had even boasted before the news broke about Schjelderup that “the framework around the match is, from before, fantastic” because of all the excitement around qualifying for the World Cup. He had predicted the atmosphere on Thursday evening “will be magical … it can’t be better than this.”

That’s no longer the case. Jan Petter Saltvedt, commentator for Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK), wrote on Monday that Schjelderup “shouldn’t be allowed among some of our best men,” as players on the national team are called in the team’s own hymn. Saltvedt noted how the national anthem will be sung (and the national song honouring the monarch) along with the hymn Alt for Norge (Everything for Norway) during opening ceremonies before the match. Even though Schjelderup is “taking responsibility” and facing the consequences of his offense, Saltvedt wrote, his participation on the national team “should be put on pause.”

Coach Solbakken disagrees. “We have done the examinations I think are enough to make this decision, and I’m even more confident in them now,” he said. “There will always be those who have other opinions … but I’m very confident that we have made the right decision.”

NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund