This article is part of the Guardian’s Women’s World Cup 2023 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 32 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 20 July.
Overview
Norway have gone through a big transition since last year’s Euros, where they crashed out of the group stage and suffered a humiliating 8-0 defeat against England. Out went the coach, Martin Sjögren, and his aim to dominate play with a 4-4-2 formation. In came Hege Riise and a more cynical approach, where defensive stability is the key to success in a 4-3-3 or 5-4-1.
“We have to acknowledge where we stand at the moment and work from that,” Riise said upon being appointed in August. She did not have the best of starts, it is fair to say. The day after her first squad selection, Barcelona’s Caroline Graham Hansen announced she would take a break from international duty due to fatigue. Just weeks later another of the team’s superstars, Ada Hegerberg, got injured for seven months. The captain, Maren Mjelde, and Barça’s Ingrid Syrstad Engen have also been out for spells, but all four are back for the World Cup.
Despite their absences, Riise’s “new Norway” produced some good performances in friendlies against strong teams such as the Netherlands, France, England and Sweden. By that time they had already secured qualification for the World Cup, topping Group F thanks to a 1-0 win against Belgium in September last year.
Riise has clearly got them playing the way she wants, as the midfielder Guro Reiten told TV 2 Norway after the 0-0 draw against France in February: “We’re difficult and annoying to play against – just like we want to be.” It will be fascinating to see how they get on this summer, merely a year after their implosion in England.
The coach
Crowned world player of the year in 1995, Hege Riise was one of the major contributors to Norway’s golden years in women’s football. They won the 1993 Euros, the World Cup two years later and added Olympic gold in 2000. She started out as a coach at Team Strømmen before making LSK Kvinner an attacking force, winning four league titles and three cups. She was appointed interim coach for England and Team GB in January 2021 and led the team at the Olympics later that year. Riise called it an honour but the team went out in the quarter-finals to Australia.
In her subsequent role with the Norway Under-19s at the 2022 Euros, she showed her ability to adapt in a tournament environment. After being comprehensively beaten 4-1 by England in their opening game, the team changed their approach to a more defensive style and beat Germany, Sweden and France on their way to the final, where they lost 2-1 to Spain.
Star player
Ada Hegerberg. The first female Ballon d’Or winner has made a mark not only on the pitch but also with her fight for equality between men and women and boys and girls. A six-time Champions League winner with Lyon, she quit international football in 2017 after becoming frustrated at what she perceived as a lack of support for the women’s team and for the development of girls’ football in Norway. “I hope I did everything for my sport to be appreciated, respected and left in a better way than what I found it in. It’s much bigger than me,” she told the LA Times last year.
Rising star
Anna Jøsendal is the first female international from the town Odda (4,800 inhabitants) and definitely one to watch. The explosive left-footed winger has already drawn attention from foreign clubs and competition for her signature will only have increased after an impressive start to the 2023 season with Rosenborg. The 22-year-old is high up in the goals and assists charts and is expected to move abroad soon. Her contract runs out at the end of the year.
Did you know?
Pretty much the entire Norway squad has become gripped by a particular pastime during camps in the recent 12 months, namely crosswords. The press officer Halvor Lea started printing and handing out crosswords to anyone who wanted one and the activity became more and more popular. ”We help each other out if anyone gets stuck so it has become a really social thing for us,” the goalkeeper Guro Pettersen said.
Standing of women’s football in Norway
Since the Norwegian FA acknowledged female football in 1971 the activity has become the most popular sport for women in the country with approximately 73,000 registered female players. Media coverage is on the rise with a new TV deal in which NRK and TV 2 share rights to broadcast matches in Toppserien. Every Saturday at 3pm TV 2 also have a goal show, covering all the games being played at the time.
Realistic aim at the World Cup?
“It shouldn’t be a load on the players. They have to feel free and feel like they are challenging, not that they are favourites in this tournament – it has been many years since we were,” the Norwegian FA president, Lise Klaveness, said at the same time as, er, saying that they are expected to win group A and reach the last 16. To be fair, anything else would be a major disappointment for a team desperate to prove themselves after last year’s disappointment. Once in the knockout stage, tough opponents await, but anything is possible for this group of players.
The Norway team guide was written by Christina Paulos Syversen for TV2 Norge.
