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Norway women's national football team facts for kids

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This page is about the women's team. For the men's team, see Norway national football team.
Quick facts for kids
Norway
Shirt badge/Association crest
Association Norwegian Football Federation
(Norges Fotballforbund)
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Gemma Grainger
Captain Maren Mjelde
Most caps Hege Riise (188)
Top scorer Isabell Herlovsen (67)
FIFA code NOR
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 13 Steady (7 December 2018)
Highest 2 (July – August 2003)
Lowest 16 (December 2023 – August 2024)
First international
Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 2–1 Norway 
(Kolding, Denmark; 7 July 1978)
Biggest win
Flag of Norway.svg Norway 17–0 Slovakia 
(Ulefoss, Norway; 19 September 1995)
Biggest defeat
Flag of England.svg England 8–0 Norway 
(Falmer, England; 11 July 2022)
World Cup
Appearances 9 (first in 1991)
Best result Champions (1995)
Olympic Games
Appearances 3 (first in 1996)
Best result Gold medalists (2000)
European Championship
Appearances 12 (first in 1987)
Best result Champions (1987, 1993)
Medal record
Summer Olympics
Gold 2000 Sydney Team
Bronze 1996 Atlanta Team

The Norway women's national football team (Norwegian: Norges kvinnelandslag i fotball) represents Norway in international football, and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation. The team is former European, World and Olympic champions and thus one of the most successful national teams. However, the team has endured less success since the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

History

Norway women's national football team emerged in 1978 for the Nordic Championship tournament, which was relatively early for Western Europe, but late for the Nordic countries, beating only Iceland. Having little culture for official clubs and a series system, Norway had a lot to do to catch up with neighboring Sweden and Denmark. Their early history therefore consisted of losing to their neighbors and eventually beating Northern Ireland for their first win.

A power to be reckoned with

Eventually, Norway's Women's National Football Team rose in success through Europe, albeit not besting their Nordic neighbors. They beat England, France and Switzerland. In the first qualification for the European Competition for Representative Women's Teams (later renamed UEFA Women's Championship), Norway played opposite Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Norway lost both matches against Sweden, but beat Finland over both matches. A surprising home draw against Iceland mattered little, Norway took the second spot in a qualification where only the best teams qualified. Sweden later won the Euros.

The start of the golden years

Norway seemed to have problems with Sweden, and they lost 0–5, their biggest loss at the time (if repeated later) shortly afterwards. Compared to other teams, however, Norway improved, and they beat Denmark and West Germany in the qualification for the 1987 Euros. The Euros, consisting as the men's Euros had been until 1980 of two semi finals and a final played in one of the countries qualified for it. In this case, Norway was the host for the four matches. Norway beat Italy in the semifinals and met Sweden in the finals. The finals was the first time Norway beat Sweden in a match, as Norway won 2–1. This made the national football team the first Norwegian sports team ever to have won anything, eleven years ahead of the Norway women's national handball team.

Norway continued to win the next year as they beat Sweden again in a final in 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament, in China. In the 1989 Euros Norway made the finals against West Germany, but this time lost 1–4. After that loss the coaches resigned, leaving the helm to Even Pellerud. Pellerud saw Norway progress to the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup. Before the first official world cup, Norway made it to the fourth (and Norway's third in a row) final of the Euros, where Norway again met Germany. Germany won in extra time. In the World cup Norway made it to the semifinals, where they lost to the USA.

Following that, Pellerud led the team to the 1993 Euros. Norway beat Denmark in the semifinals and Italy in the finals, winning their second Euros. Norway followed up with winning the 1994 Algarve Cup, the first ever to be arranged. The focus the next year was the World Cup and its antecedent Euros, which also functioned as a qualifier for the World Cup. Norway met Italy already in the quarter-finals, and won it. Sweden managed to come back and thrash Norway in the second semifinal in Sweden, winning 5–7 after two matches. Norway was still qualified for the World Cup.

World Champions and beyond

The 1995 World Cup in Sweden is part of Norwegian sports heritage. Norway won all their matches in the group stage, and continued to meet an unconvincing Denmark in the quarter-finals. Norway was up 3–0 with five minutes to go, and while conceding a goal a minute later, Norway was never threatened. The next encounter for Norway was the US, and in a close match, USA could never respond to an early goal by Ann Kristin Aarønes, and the USA lost their first official international tournament. Norway met Germany in the finals. Having lost two Euro finals, Norway were not among the favourites, but they defeated Germany by two goals scored within the space of four minutes, becoming world champions. Pellerud resigned shortly afterwards.

From the first women's football in the Olympic Games, it was considered equal with the world cup in rank. Norway qualified as a matter of course because of their win in the World Cup. Norway drew with Brazil, and beat Germany and Japan, proceeding to the semi-finals. There they lost to the US after extra time, but won the bronze medal after defeating Brazil.

The 1997 Euros turned out to be a big disappointment for the ruling world champions at home, and Norway only made it to the semi-finals. This was the last time the two-year gap was used, making it easier to focus on the two competitions separately. Norway eased through to the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, where they beat all their opposition in the group stage. They met Sweden in the quarter-finals, proving that now Norway had the upper hand by beating them 3–1. Surprisingly, Norway lost heavily to China, who won 5–0, thus equaling the embarrassment Sweden defeated Norway some 13 years earlier. In the bronze final, Norway lost to Brazil on penalties in front of a record 90,185 spectators.

Norway was not among the biggest favourites to win the Sydney Olympics. They started off losing to the US, but picked up nicely by beating Nigeria and China, the latter by one goal. In the semi-finals Norway beat Germany with a lucky own goal by Tina Wunderlich after Germany pressed the Norwegians for the better part of the match. The final saw Norway against heavy favourites USA in an even match. Tiffeny Milbrett took the lead for the US, but Norway equaled the score by Gro Espeseth and stayed in the game with a good keeper in Bente Nordby. Norway took the lead in the match via a header by Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, but Milbrett scored in stoppage time to prolong the match to extra time with golden goal. Norway scored the winner in what seemed like a handball. The coach Per-Mathias Høgmo quit after achieving this feat.

Decline

Åge Steen took over as coach, but under his tutelage, things went from top to mediocre. In the 2001 Euros Norway's play was lackluster, and while making it to the semi-finals thanks to the France national team, Norway clearly lost to Germany. In the 2003 World Cup, Norway disappointed with a fumbling 1–4 to Brazil in the group stage before losing to USA in the quarter-finals. As Greece was arranging the 2004 Summer Olympics, there were only two additional spots for European teams, and Sweden and Germany, who had both proceeded to the finals, took them. Steen continued for another year, as stipulated by his contract, but was replaced in late 2004.

Brief recovery

Under the new coach, Bjarne Berntsen, Norway took things up a notch by reaching the final of the 2005 Euros with a classic 3–2 win over Sweden in extra time in the semifinal. Again Germany defeated Norway to win the championship. Norway continued to achieve reasonable results except in the Algarve Cup where the results started to slip.

Despite this Norway qualified for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China. They drew with Australia and narrowly beat Canada, and then a 7–2 win over Ghana took them to the top of their group. Norway then progressed further by beating China 1–0, but lost 0–3 to Germany in the semifinal. In the bronze final Norway lost 1–4 to the US to finish in fourth place in the World Cup, which qualified them to enter the Beijing Olympics. Norway's top scorer Ragnhild Gulbrandsen was awarded the Bronze Boot behind Marta of Brazil and Abby Wambach of the United States.

From there Berntsen's fortunes began to wane. First he was criticized for telling Lise Klaveness she had no future in the national team under him, at 1 a.m. at Oslo airport as they were arriving back from China, a gross error that he later admitted. Then in the 2008 Olympics Norway first impressively beat USA, then lost to Japan 1–5 and went out in the quarter-finals against Brazil. In October 2008, five players refused to play in the National Team, making comments that implied playing under Berntsen was too much of a burden, which led to a media outcry. With a reduced team, and also after some less controversial resignations, Norway produced a relatively good result at the 2009 UEFA Women's Championship by beating Sweden 3–1 in the quarter-finals, even with an embarrassing 0–4 against Germany and a modest 1–0 against Iceland and 1–1 against France. After the championship, Berntsen's contract ended.

Landsem

Eli Landsem, the first woman coach and the first coach with experience of coaching women's football, took over at the end of 2009. Under her some of the players who had previously elected not to play returned. Landsem produced acceptable results and the team qualified to play in the 2011 FIFA World Cup after winning all but one of the matches in their qualification group. However Norway failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in its history after losing to Brazil (0–3) and Australia (1–2). As a result, they also failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The next task was qualification to the 2013 European Cup competition, with Norway in Group 3 with Iceland, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Hungary and Bulgaria. The campaign began badly with 3–1 losses to Iceland and 64th-ranked Northern Ireland, but in 2012 the position was recovered with wins in the last six matches, and Norway finished top of Group 3 with eight wins from ten matches. They later went on to finish as runners-up in the finals in Sweden.

Struggle

At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Norway was drawn into a group with Germany, Thailand and the Ivory Coast. Norway performed well in the group stage, as the team beat Thailand 4–0 and the Ivory Coast 3–1. They drew 1–1 against former champions Germany. Norway would lose 2–1 in the round of sixteen to England. England went on to win the bronze medal.

2016–present

On 16 December 2016 Martin Sjögren was introduced as the new coach of Norway. He had previous coaching experience in the Damallsvenskan with Linköpings and LdB FC Malmö.

Norway qualified for Euro 2017 without losing a game. They were drawn into Group A alongside the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. Norway was the highest ranked team in Group A, and were predicted by many to win the group. They ended up being one of the biggest disappointments of the tournament as they lost all three group games without scoring a goal.

On 9 September 2017 Norway striker and 2016 UEFA Women's Player of the Year Ada Hegerberg announced she was taking a break from international duty, and was unsure when or if she would return.

On 7 October 2017 the Norway Football Association announced that Norway's male and female players would receive equal financial compensation, with the men making a contribution to the women's team. This equalled nearly a fifty percent increase in compensation for the women.

On 4 September 2018 Norway defeated the Netherlands 2–1 in their final group game of UEFA World Cup Qualifying. As a result, Norway won qualifying Group 3 and secured an automatic berth in the 2019 World Cup, while the Netherlands who won Euro 2017 were forced to go to the play-off.

Euro 2022

In their Euro 2022 group stage match against England, the host country of the competition and eventual champions, on 11 July 2022, the team suffered their biggest defeat, losing 8–0. Norway was eliminated after the first round, as in 2017, after losing the final Group A match against Austria (0–1), having won only one match, in the opening match against Northern Ireland (4–1).

All-time record

  • Source:

Results and fixtures

  • The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Legend

      Win       Draw       Lose       Void or Postponed       Fixture

2023

2024

2025

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Position Name Ref.
Head coach England Gemma Grainger
Assistant coach Norway Ingvild Stensland
England Lee Skyrme
Goalkeeping coach Norway Jon Knudsen

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying play-off matches against Northern Ireland on 29 November and 3 December 2024.

Caps and goals are correct as 29 October 2024, after the match against Albania.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Cecilie Fiskerstrand (1996-03-20) 20 March 1996 (age 28) 52 0 Norway LSK Kvinner
1GK Aurora Mikalsen (1996-03-21) 21 March 1996 (age 28) 21 0 Norway Brann
1GK Selma Panengstuen (2002-11-22) 22 November 2002 (age 22) 0 0 Norway Kolbotn
2DF Maren Mjelde (1989-11-06) 6 November 1989 (age 35) 177 20 Norway Arna-Bjørnar
2DF Tuva Hansen (1997-08-04) 4 August 1997 (age 27) 46 1 Germany Bayern Munich
2DF Guro Bergsvand (1994-03-03) 3 March 1994 (age 30) 34 6 England Brighton & Hove Albion
2DF Mathilde Harviken (2001-12-29) 29 December 2001 (age 22) 26 1 Norway Rosenborg
2DF Marit Bratberg Lund (1997-11-07) 7 November 1997 (age 27) 14 1 Norway Brann
2DF Emilie Woldvik (1999-01-08) 8 January 1999 (age 25) 6 0 Norway LSK Kvinner
2DF Marthine Østenstad (2001-03-18) 18 March 2001 (age 23) 2 0 Norway Brann
3MF Guro Reiten (1994-07-26) 26 July 1994 (age 30) 96 21 England Chelsea
3MF Frida Maanum (1999-07-16) 16 July 1999 (age 25) 82 20 England Arsenal
3MF Vilde Bøe Risa (1995-07-13) 13 July 1995 (age 29) 78 3 Spain Atlético Madrid
3MF Ingrid Syrstad Engen (1998-04-29) 29 April 1998 (age 26) 78 6 Spain Barcelona
3MF Emilie Joramo (2002-01-13) 13 January 2002 (age 22) 3 0 Sweden Hammarby
3MF Justine Kielland (2002-11-22) 22 November 2002 (age 22) 2 0 Germany VfL Wolfsburg
3MF Olaug Tvedten (2000-07-20) 20 July 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Norway Vålerenga
4FW Caroline Graham Hansen (captain) (1995-02-18) 18 February 1995 (age 29) 110 47 Spain Barcelona
4FW Ada Hegerberg (1995-07-10) 10 July 1995 (age 29) 84 49 France Lyon
4FW Karina Sævik (1996-03-24) 24 March 1996 (age 28) 55 8 Norway Vålerenga
4FW Synne Jensen (1996-02-15) 15 February 1996 (age 28) 25 4 Spain Atlético Madrid
4FW Celin Bizet Ildhusøy (2001-10-24) 24 October 2001 (age 23) 23 7 England Manchester United
4FW Cathinka Tandberg (2004-06-18) 18 June 2004 (age 20) 4 0 Sweden Linköping

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the squad in the last 12 months.


Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Guro Pettersen (1991-08-22) 22 August 1991 (age 33) 7 0 Germany Werder Bremen v. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands, 16 July 2024
DF Thea Bjelde (2000-06-05) 5 June 2000 (age 24) 24 1 Norway Vålerenga v. Flag of Albania.svg Albania, 29 October 2024
DF Maria Thorisdottir (1993-06-05) 5 June 1993 (age 31) 71 3 England Brighton & Hove Albion v. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands, 16 July 2024
DF Anja Sønstevold (1992-06-21) 21 June 1992 (age 32) 31 1 Italy Inter Milan v. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands, 9 April 2024
MF Elisabeth Terland (2001-06-28) 28 June 2001 (age 23) 35 9 England Manchester United v. Flag of Albania.svg Albania, 29 October 2024
MF Lisa Naalsund (1995-06-11) 11 June 1995 (age 29) 23 1 England Manchester United v. Flag of Albania.svg Albania, 29 October 2024
MF Signe Gaupset (2005-06-18) 18 June 2005 (age 19) 4 1 Norway Brann v. Flag of Albania.svg Albania, 29 October 2024
FW Sophie Román Haug (1999-06-04) 4 June 1999 (age 25) 23 12 England Liverpool v. Flag of Albania.svg Albania, 25 October 2024
FW Emilie Haavi (1992-06-16) 16 June 1992 (age 32) 103 16 Italy Roma v. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands, 9 April 2024
FW Julie Blakstad (2001-08-27) 27 August 2001 (age 23) 30 3 Sweden Hammarby v. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands, 9 April 2024
FW Mimmi Löfwenius (1994-02-16) 16 February 1994 (age 30) 2 0 Norway Vålerenga v. Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal, 1 December 2023 INJ

WIT Withdrew from the squad
INJ Injured
MED Withdrew on medical grounds
ST Named to the standby list

Records

Main article: List of Norway women's international footballers

, after the match against Albania.

Players in bold are still active with Norway.

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

Main article: Norway at the FIFA Women's World Cup
FIFA Women's World Cup record Qualification record
Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA Squad Pld W D* L GF GA
China 1991 Runners-up 2nd 6 4 0 2 14 10 Squad UEFA Women's Euro 1991
Sweden 1995 Champions 1st 6 6 0 0 23 1 Squad UEFA Women's Euro 1995
United States 1999 Fourth place 4th 6 4 1 1 16 8 Squad 6 4 1 1 13 5
United States 2003 Quarter-finals 6th 4 2 0 2 10 6 Squad 6 5 1 0 21 3
China 2007 Fourth place 4th 6 3 1 2 12 11 Squad 8 7 1 0 22 3
Germany 2011 Group stage 9th 3 1 0 2 2 5 Squad 10 9 1 0 42 2
Canada 2015 Round of 16 10th 4 2 1 1 9 4 Squad 10 9 0 1 41 5
France 2019 Quarter-finals 8th 5 2 1 2 7 7 Squad 8 7 0 1 22 4
AustraliaNew Zealand 2023 Round of 16 13th 4 1 1 2 7 4 Squad 10 9 1 0 47 2
Brazil 2027 To be determined To be determined
Total 1 Title 9/9 44 25 5 14 100 56 58 50 5 3 208 24
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record
Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA Squad
United States 1996 Bronze medalists 3rd 5 3 1 1 12 6 Squad
Australia 2000 Gold medalists 1st 5 4 0 1 9 6 Squad
Greece 2004 Did not qualify
China 2008 Quarter-finals 7th 4 2 0 2 5 7 Squad
United Kingdom 2012 Did not qualify
Brazil 2016
Japan 2020
France 2024
United States 2028 To be determined
Australia 2032
Total 1 Gold medal 3/8 14 9 1 4 26 19
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

UEFA Women's Championship

Main article: Norway at the UEFA Women's Championship
UEFA Women's Championship record Qualifying record
Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA Squad Pld W D* L GF GA
1984 Did not qualify 6 3 1 2 10 6
Norway 1987 Champions 1st 2 2 0 0 4 1 Squad 6 3 3 0 12 6
West Germany 1989 Runners-up 2nd 2 1 0 1 3 5 Squad 8 4 1 3 15 11
Denmark 1991 Runners-up 2nd 2 0 1 1 1 3 Squad 8 7 1 0 16 1
Italy 1993 Champions 1st 2 2 0 0 2 0 Squad 6 5 1 0 30 0
England Germany Norway Sweden 1995 Semi-finals 3rd 2 1 0 1 5 7 Squad 8 7 1 0 40 6
Norway 1997 Group stage 5th 3 1 1 1 5 2 Squad 6 5 1 0 33 1
Germany 2001 Semi-finals 3rd 4 1 1 2 4 3 Squad 6 6 0 0 25 0
England 2005 Runners-up 2nd 5 2 1 2 10 10 Squad 10 8 1 1 31 7
Finland 2009 Semi-finals 3rd 5 2 1 2 6 9 Squad 8 7 1 0 26 0
Sweden 2013 Runners-up 2nd 6 3 2 1 7 4 Squad 10 8 0 2 35 9
Netherlands 2017 Group stage 16th 3 0 0 3 0 4 Squad 8 7 1 0 29 2
England 2022 10th 3 1 0 2 4 10 Squad 6 6 0 0 34 1
Switzerland 2025 To be determined To be determined
Total 2 Titles 12/13 39 16 7 16 51 58 96 76 12 8 336 50
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

UEFA Women's Nations League

UEFA Women's Nations League record
League phase Finals
Season LG Grp Pos Pld W D L GF GA P/R RK Year Pos Pld W D L GF GA
2023–24 A 2 3rd 6 1 2 3 9 8 Same position 12nd Europe 2024 Did not qualify
2025–26 A To be determined 2026 To be determined
Total 6 1 2 3 9 8 Total - - - - - - -

Algarve Cup

The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's soccer hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious women's football events, alongside the Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic Football.

Algarve Cup record
Year Result
Portugal 1994 Champions
Portugal 1995 Third place
Portugal 1996 Champions
Portugal 1997 Champions
Portugal 1998 Champions
Portugal 1999 Third place
Portugal 2000 Runner-up
Portugal 2001 Fifth place
Portugal 2002 Runner-up
Portugal 2003 Third place
Portugal 2004 Runner-up
Portugal 2005 Fifth place
Portugal 2006 Fifth place
Portugal 2007 Fifth place
Portugal 2008 Third place
Portugal 2009 Ninth place
Portugal 2010 Sixth place
Portugal 2011 Fifth place
Portugal 2012 Seventh place
Portugal 2013 Third place
Portugal 2014 Tenth place
Portugal 2015 Fifth place
Portugal 2016 Did not enter
Portugal 2017 Eleventh place
Portugal 2018 Seventh place
Portugal 2019 Champions
Portugal 2020 Third place
Portugal 2022 Third place

Invitational trophies

  • FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament: Winner 1988
  • Algarve Cup: Winner 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2019
  • Albena Cup: Winner 1988, 1989
  • Four Nations Tournament: Winner 2002, 2013
  • Cyprus Tournament: Winner 1993

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Selección femenina de fútbol de Noruega para niños

  • Sport in Norway
  • Football in Norway
  • Women's football in Norway
  • List of Norway women's international footballers
  • Norway women's national under-17 football team
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