Norway’s national men’s football team could enjoy a festive homecoming after they landed back in Oslo Monday afternoon. They’d qualified as expected for next year’s World Cup after beating Italy in Milan Sunday night, and that also qualified them for what the Norwegians call a folkefest.
The Oslo City Hall was lit up with the colours of the Norwegian flag, as an estimated 50,000 Norwegians gathered Monday night to welcome home their victorious national football team. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
It’s the first time in 28 years that Norway will be playing in the World Cup, an event that led to Crown Prince Haakon and his son Prince Sverre Magnus being among the Norwegian spectators who saw Norway run over Italy by a score of 4-1. Norway was widely expected to qualify regardless of the outcome, since its team already had won all eight matches in their qualifying group that included Italy, Israel, Estonia and Moldova.
The final score itself showed just how good the team is. The jubilant royals also joined players and head coach Ståle Solbakken for post-match celebrations in their locker room when it was all over, with one of the players joking that they’d need to send their business suits to the cleaners afterwards.
There were flares and flaming torches as the Norwegian football fans braved sub-zero temperatures to greet their national football team heroes. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
Even Italian spectators were applauding the Norwegians, with star player and team captain Erling Braut Haaland winning a standing ovation after he scored two of Norway’s four goals Sunday night. He scored a total of 16 goals during the qualifiers, more than anyone else in the entire qualifying round, and plays professionally for Manchester City.
Antonio Nusa and Jørgen Strand Larsen scored the two other goals Sunday night, resulting in a victory that led to pure jubilation: “We knew we’d be celebrating today (Sunday), but to celebrate with such a victory was really something else,” player Alexander Sørloth told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
More than a million Norwegians, fully 20 percent of the country’s entire population, watched TV2‘s live broadcast of the action in Milan. Italy was first to score in the first half of the match, but after the pause, the Norwegians took control and kicked in one goal after another.
Team members were introduced one by one, with stars like Martin Ødegaard and Erling Braut Haaland thanking their supporters and predicting more excitement ahead at the World Cup. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
The team’s earlier achievements had already inspired the country’s football federation and city officials in Oslo to invite the public to a major outdoor victory party at Rådhusplassen (the fjordside plaza outside Rådhuset/City Hall) Monday evening. Thousands showed up despite freezing temperatures. The City Hall itself, best known internationally as the site of the annual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, was also lit up for the occasion with the Norwegian flag’s colours and flaming torches as team members gathered on its balcony to greet the masses.
Big screens brought the players a bit closer to their fans. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
The players and their coach thanked their supporters for sticking with them, also before their performance in their qualifying group took off. “I feel like this is the start of something big,” Haaland told the crowd. “There lots of excitement ahead.”
The teams’s balcony appearance followed an indoor reception hosted by Oslo Mayor Anne Lindboe. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Lubna Jaffery, Norway’s government minister in charge of culture and sport, also took part after waiting for the players to arrive.
Now both players and fans have to wait until the international football association FIFA organizes the draw in early December that will decide group play at the World Cup next summer. It will run from June 11 to July 19 in Mexico, Canada and the US. Norway will be allocated tickets based on where its team will play and the capacity of the stadium.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
