Norway at the 2026 World Cup: A Nation Dares to Dream
Norway are back on the biggest stage in world football for the first time since Euro 2000, and according to a detailed preview published by The Guardian as part of their 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, they arrive with genuine cause for optimism.
The man responsible for ending that 26-year wait is manager Ståle Solbakken, who took charge of the national side in 2020. His journey to this moment has been anything but straightforward. In 2001, while playing for Copenhagen, he suffered a cardiac arrest during training and was clinically dead for seven minutes. His playing career was finished, but within a year he had turned to management — and has barely stopped since, taking in spells at Wolves, Cologne and Copenhagen before returning home. After Norway qualified by topping their group, Solbakken admitted it was