Norway at the 2026 Soccer World Championship: Roster, Predictions, and Statistics

The Norwegian national team has long been in the shadows, not making it to the main stage of top tournaments. However, over the past few years, perhaps the strongest generation in history has emerged in the country, forcing a fresh look at the Scandinavian team. Now it appears capable of at least giving a fight to any opponent. The squad is almost entirely composed of footballers representing strong European clubs, meaning they are well-versed in experience and skill.

Bookmakers also duly appreciate the impressive progress of the Northerners, ranking them ninth in the list of World Cup contenders. They were not deterred by the fact that Norway hadn't made it to the main stage of the World Cup since 1998. The excellent "chemistry" formed in a squad not so famous by names, the impressive skills of head coach Ståle Solbakken combined with a powerful qualification run did their job.

In short:

• The upcoming World Cup is only the fourth one that Norway has qualified for (previously this happened in 1938, 1994 and 1998).
• The Norwegian team includes Haaland, Ødegaard, Sørloth, while the Russian goalkeeper Bude/Glimt Hækin was left out of the squad.
• Norway qualified for a top tournament for the first time since 2000, when it participated in the European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands.
• Bookmakers rate Norway's chances of winning the World Cup at around 3%, and the chances of reaching the final at 8%.
• In the group stage of the World Cup, the Norwegian national team will play against France, Senegal, and Iraq.

Norwegian National Team Squad

Goalkeepers: Ørjan Nyland (Sevilla), Egil Selvik (Watford), Sander Tangvik (Hamburg)

Defenders: Kristoffer Ajer (Brentford), Fredrik Bjørkan (Bodø/Glimt), Sondre Langås (Derby County), Torbjørn Heggem (Bologna), Leo Østigård (Genoa), Julian Ryerson (Borussia Dortmund), David Wolfe (Wolverhampton), Henrik Falckner (Viking).

Midfielders: Markus Pedersen (Torino), Martin Ødegaard (Arsenal), Patrick Berg, Jens Hauge (both Bodø/Glimt), Telo Asgaard (Rangers), Sander Berge, Oscar Bobb (both - Fulham), Fredrik Aursnes, Andreas Schelderup (both Benfica), Kristian Thorstvedt (Sassuolo), Morten Thorsby (Genoa).

Forwards: Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Alexander Sørloth (Atletico Madrid), Jørgen Larsen (Crystal Palace), Antonio Nusa (RB Leipzig).

Head coach: Ståle Solbakken

Main Star

It's impossible to imagine the Norwegian national team without Erling Haaland, despite the strong overall squad. The Manchester City forward, who has been tearing up the Premier League for several years, also scores for the national team with the relentlessness of a terminator – 55 goals in 48 matches and 16 in eight qualifying matches for the current World Cup. This is the best performance by far in European qualification. With such numbers, all that's left for opposing defenders is to pray. There may be more technically gifted forwards in the world, but Erling is undoubtedly the best finisher inside the penalty area thanks to his size and phenomenal goal instinct.

Main Problem

Despite the fact that the Drills have already moved away from the primitive old-school British style with a focus on endless crosses and physical struggle, they still gravitate towards primitive attacks. If the opponents manage to cover Edegore in the center of the field, then in the insane North American heat with high humidity, the Norwegians, even with such cool dribblers as Bobb and Nusa, can easily slide into template combinations, which will become easy to read for opponents. This means that there will be no one to "feed" Haaland with convenient passes.

Young talent

Andreas Skjelderup. The forward, who is only 21 years old, is the youngest (along with Antonio Nusa) in the current roster of the national team and earned a ticket to the World Cup with a breakthrough season at the club level. Having been caught in the nets of Benfica back in 2023, the player scored 11 goals in all tournaments this season. The most striking performance – a double in the Champions League match against Real Madrid. In the Norwegian national team, Andreas also managed to show himself, scoring in a friendly match against the Netherlands in March. Of course, it is unrealistic to win the competition for a place in the starting lineup from Haaland and Sorloth at the World Cup, but he will be a powerful option to strengthen the game during matches.

Who will miss the World Cup 2026

Head coach Solbakken called up all the best footballers to the national team, but still cut off Bodo/Glimt goalkeeper Nikita Haikin, who made a strong statement in the past Champions League draw. According to Norwegian journalists, there are two main reasons for this. Firstly, a refusal from FIFA, despite the goalkeeper having a Norwegian passport, and secondly, Haikin's poor form in the spring part of the season after being knocked out of the Champions League. The goalkeeper, who has several citizenships, has never played for the national team before, and Solbakken is very reluctant to invite such players.

Norway's form

Qualification

In the World Cup qualifiers, Norway had no difficulties at all, winning all eight matches. Moreover, six of them with a crushing score. The coolest performances – two routs of Italy (3:0 at home, 4:1 away) and an epic dismemberment of the Moldova national team – 11:1 with five goals from Haaland. In total, the "drills" scored 37 goals during the qualification. Will the fireworks continue on the World Cup fields?

Recent results

After the end of the World Cup qualifiers, the Scandinavians continued their preparation for the tournament through friendly matches. In March, both matches did not bring joy to the fans. First, their favorites lost to the Netherlands national team (1:2), and then played a goalless draw with Switzerland. On the other hand, both opponents are not shy, and against their background, Norway showed good football and identified areas for growth.

Preparation for the World Cup 

Like the vast majority of other World Cup participants, Norway has planned two friendly matches. First, it will play with neighbors from Sweden, and then with the Moroccan national team, against which it will likely try to simulate a battle withSenegal in the World Cup. It's interesting to see what will come out of this, as the Moroccans, unlike Senegal, are much more inclined towards defensive football than attacking actions.

Norway's match schedule for the 2026 World Cup

Norway's chances of advancing from the group

Bookmakers have little doubt that the Norwegian team will make it to the World Cup playoffs, assuming that Solbakken's team will leave the group with an 84% probability. Although the chances of taking first place in their quartet are much lower – 25%.

Bookmaker odds for the Norwegian team at the 2026 World Cup

Scores24's forecast for the national team Norway

The Norwegians have a working chance to secure at least second place in the group, and if France slips up somewhere, they can even compete for the first place. If we assess the difficulty of each match, the easiest one seems to be the starting one – against the Iraqi team. The gap between the level of the Norwegians' play and the opponent's defense is too great, so it makes sense to try a bet on Norway's individual total over 2.5 goals for 2.02*.

More predictions for all 2026 World Cup games will be available in the tournament section starting from June 9.

*Odds are approximate, may vary in different bookmakers and are current at the time of publication

If you are interested in detailed analyses of the chances of the top national teams at the 2026 World Cup, you can also read the following articles:

• France National Team at the 2026 World Cup: squad, prediction, and statistics
• Prediction for Brazil National Team’s performance at the 2026 World Cup
• What will Cristiano Ronaldo’s sixth World Cup be like?
• List of all national team friendly games before the World Cup: which matches to watch and how to bet on them?