Norway are going back to a major tournament for the first time in 26 years, and Ståle Solbakken says the moment feels almost unreal. The team has qualified for the 2026 World Cup, ending a wait that stretches back to Euro 2000 and putting Norway FC back on the world stage under a coach who knows how hard the road has been.
Solbakken put it plainly after the breakthrough. “I don’t think I’ll have any better nights than this in my life,” he said. “It’s almost surreal.” For a country that has spent a generation looking at major tournaments from the outside, that is why the result matters today: Norway FC are not just talking about potential any more, they are booked into the World Cup next summer with Erling Haaland up front and captain Martin Ødegaard driving the side.
The qualification also gives Solbakken a personal milestone to match the team’s. He took charge of Norway in 2020 after coaching clubs including Wolves, Cologne and Copenhagen, and his path through the game has already included a near-death episode in 2001, when he suffered a heart attack and says he was clinically dead for seven minutes before the ambulance arrived. He later ended his playing career after waking up in hospital, which makes this return to the biggest stage feel even more improbable.
Norway’s route has been built around a pragmatic 4-3-3, with Haaland and Alexander Sørloth as the strikers, Antonio Nusa holding width on the left and Julian Ryerson pushing high on the right. Ødegaard remains the captain and the main source of control, while Torbjørn Heggem has added ball-playing options at center back alongside Kristoffer Ajer. That structure has finally carried Norway through, even after they failed to qualify for the Euros two years ago and again faced the old doubt about whether this group could finish the job when it mattered.
The next test comes quickly. Norway will face Iraq in Boston on 16 June at 6pm local time, then Senegal in New York/New Jersey on 22 June at 8pm local time before meeting France in Boston on 26 June at 3pm local time. Solbakken’s side has already done the part that had eluded Norway FC for 26 years. The unanswered question now is whether Haaland, Ødegaard and a coach who has waited a lifetime for a night like this can turn qualification into something deeper.
