Written by Han Bing In the final round of the group stage of the 1998 World Cup in France, Norway, who was tall and tall, scored two goals in the last seven minutes to reverse Brazil, which shocked the football world for a while. Since then, Norway has not reached the World Cup finals, and not even the European Championship finals since 2000.

In recent years, even with Haaland and Odegaard, two superstars worth hundreds of millions, Norway still missed the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024, becoming one of the representatives of the "superstar weak team".

However, Norway beat Italy 3-0 at the Uleva Stadium in Oslo on June 6 to make it three wins in a row in the European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. The last time Norway beat the world champions in an official tournament was a 2-1 win over Brazil in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup. Coincidentally, 4 days later, in the 1/8 finals, Norway was eliminated by Italy 0-1 and has since missed the World Cup. History seems to have come through a long cycle, and now Norway's World Cup dream has fallen on Italy......

"Super" Norway is starting to show its power

What is less well known is that Norway, who have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament for 25 years since 2000, were ranked second in the world (October 1993, July and August 1995). However, Norway has never been able to prove itself at the tournament and has a far less presence in the tournament than neighbouring Sweden and Denmark. Norway's world ranking also dropped to an all-time low of 88 in July 2017. However, Norway has gradually started to improve in recent years, starting from 50th in the international ranking in July 2024 and now rising to 36th.

At the start of the UEFA Nations League group stage in September 2024, the Norwegian team finally started the strong team mode: 7 wins and 1 loss in 8 official matches. They first won 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the group stage of the UEFA Nations League B, and won the first place in the group and were promoted to the A division of the UEFA Nations League; In the 2026 World Cup European qualifiers, which began in March this year, they won three consecutive victories, scoring and conceding a whopping 10-2 goals, leading the group stage standings.

It was Norway's best performance in an official match since Euro 2000 qualifying, with seven wins and one draw. In the previous 1994 World Preliminary Tournament, the Norwegian team also played 8 games, 7 wins and 1 draw, defeating the Netherlands and England successively, which directly led to England's failure to qualify. This time, the performance is also on par with 32 years ago, but it may not have been replaced by another world champion winner, Italy.

Despite the unsatisfactory performance of the season just ended, the value of the two superstars of the Norwegian team, Haaland and Odegaard, has decreased, and the total value of the Norwegian team that defeated the Italian team still exceeded 500 million euros, a record high. It ranks 12th in the world national team value rankings, on par with Sweden and Belgium. The 3-0 victory over Italy, which is worth 224 million euros more than itself, is a testament to the strength of the Norwegian team.

Norway have beaten Moldova, Israel and qualifying rivals Italy in the group stage of the World Championships, and with four games left before their trip to Italy on 16 November, they will naturally aim for a winning streak. Even if they lose away to Italy by then, they are likely to top the group on goal difference and return to the World Cup in 28 years.

It is worth mentioning that in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup, Norway lost 0-1 to Italy, and the final four teams in the group had the same points and goal difference. Time has passed, and Norway have an absolute advantage in scoring goals in direct competition with Italy.

Norway rises, shocking the whole of Europe

The 3-0 win over Italy was a milestone for Norwegian football, as it proved that the Norwegian side led by Erling Haaland and Odegaard finally qualified to return to the tournament. Norway's last win over Italy was in a warm-up game 25 years ago. In June 2000, also at the Uleva Stadium in Oslo, Norway defeated a star-studded Italian side 1-0 thanks to a goal from Gambian-American striker Kalu. At that time, the Italian team had Buffon, Cannavaro, Nesta, Maldini, Conte, Albertini, Zambrotta, Inzaghi and Totti, Piero, Montella and Toldo could only come off the bench, and the Norwegian team only Flo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Kalou were slightly famous.

Twenty-five years later, the two teams have almost changed their stars, and Norway has as many as 11 players worth more than 10 million euros. Erling Haaland (180 million) and Odegaard (85 million) are world-class stars, while Larsson (Wolves, Premier League), Noosa (RB Leipzig, Bundesliga), Therot (Atletico Madrid, La Liga), Bailig (Fulham, Premier League), Bob (Manchester City, Premier League) and Lersson (Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga) are worth more than 20 million euros. Although the Italian team is worth 224 million euros more than the Norwegian team, Barrera, who is the most valuable, is only 75 million, and can only rank third in the Norwegian team. Starting midfielder Rovira (18 million), striker Retegui (16 million), central defender Di Lorenzo (15 million), left-back Coppola (7.5 million), and right midfielder Zappacosta (6 million) are worth less than 20 million, which is actually in the same level as Norway's midfielder. Are Norwegian players getting stronger and "expensive", or are Italian players getting worse and "cheaper"?

At least judging from the opening stage of the European zone of this World Qualifier, Norway's attack power is superior to that of Europe. Against their two strongest rivals, Italy and Israel, Norway scored seven goals in two games, an average of 3.5 goals per game. Norway has scored the most goals (12) in the six European qualifying groups that have been played, more than the combined goals of Bosnia-Herzegovina (4) and Wales (7) at the top of Group H, who have also won three consecutive games.