There will be some huge footballing stars at Euro 2024, from Cristiano Ronaldo gunning for one final shot at international glory with Portugal, to an England side spearheaded by the youth of Jude Bellingham and the experience of Harry Kane. And don’t forget a France team packed with superstars, such as Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.
But there’s a couple of big European players who won’t compete at the tournament — and two of them play for Norway.
Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard might be tearing the Premier League asunder for Manchester City and Arsenal respectively, but the pair have yet to ignite in Norwegian colours, once again failing to qualify for a major tournament this time around.
So how on earth did this nation, who boasted two of Europe’s best and most productive players, miss out on a spot at Euro 2024? The Sporting News goes through the qualification campaign and explanations.
Norway will have been confident of qualifying when the draw was made for the qualification stage, although they will likely have targeted second place in Group A behind three-time European champions Spain. However, in the end, they finished six points adrift of second-place Scotland.
Erling Haaland did fire six goals for Norway in eight qualifying matches for the European Championship, two of them penalties. But, perhaps crucially, he failed to net in either game against group heavyweights Spain, with five of those six goals coming in wins over minnows Georgia and Cyprus.
Martin Odegaard, meanwhile, only scored one goal in qualifying, while the pair both had their injury issues at times, and naturally their absences are keenly felt by a national squad not otherwise brimming with quality.
The vital game that dashed Norway’s qualifying hopes was their 2-1 defeat at home to Scotland in June, a game that came just a week after Haaland had played — and won — the Champions League final with Manchester City.
The City squad embarked on some raucous celebrations then won over Inter Milan sealed a famous treble, even going to Ibiza to party. Norway manager Stale Solbakken had been adamant Haaland would be fresh enough to play a full part against Scotland in Oslo, but the game ended in defeat despite the striker breaking the deadlock with a 61st-minute penalty. The Scots struck twice late on to nick it.
Solbakken wasn’t happy with his team after the game and was particularly frustrated that Haaland was not involved enough.
He said: “In the last few minutes Erling was on the field, we played with one less man. He was completely empty. He had run out of steam.”