Norwegian national football team / European championships

Kingdom of Norway
Kongeriket Norge
Balance sheet

European Championship record scorer:	Steffen Iversen (1)
European Championship record players:	10 players (3 each)
Rank:	25th
3 European Championship games 1 win 1 draw 1 loss 1: 1 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Norway 1-0 Spain Rotterdam ( NLD ); June 13, 2000 Norway Spain
Biggest European Championship victory Norway 1-0 Spain Rotterdam ( NLD ); June 13, 2000 Norway Spain
Biggest European Championship defeat Norway 0: 1 BR Yugoslavia Liège ( BEL ); June 18, 2000 Norway Yugoslavia Federal Republic 1992
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 2000 )
Best results	Preliminary round ( 2000 )
Best results in the countries where the UEFA European Football Championships are held

(As of July 2016)

The article contains a detailed description of the Norwegian national football team at European championships . The Norwegian team could only qualify once. Of all the participants, Norway conceded the fewest goals (1), but only scored one goal.

Overview

Norway took part in all European Championship qualifications, but has only been able to qualify for one final round so far. In the first participations, the end came in the first round, after which the team was always eliminated as the bottom of the group. Only in qualifying for the European Championship in 1992, when Rune Bratseth was a stabilizer of the defense, the third place in the group could be occupied for the first time. In 2000 the qualification for the finals was achieved for the first time and in the following years the qualification was only just missed.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not qualified				In the second round of Austria failed could not even qualify for the final round.
1964	Spain	not qualified				In qualifying on neighbors Sweden failed, which also failed to qualify for the final round.
1968	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification of Bulgaria failed, could not qualify for the final round.
1972	Belgium	not qualified				Hungary failed in the qualification at the later fourth place .
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified				In qualifying later in the host and the Fourth Yugoslavia failed.
1980	Italy	not qualified				In qualifying later in the European Vice Champion Belgium failed.
1984	France	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Yugoslavia .
1988	Germany	not qualified				Failed in the qualification at the later Vice European Champion USSR .
1992	Sweden	not qualified				In the qualification failed again to Vice European Champion USSR .
1996	England	not qualified				In qualifying the late Vice European champion Czech Republic and the Netherlands failed.
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	Preliminary round	Spain , FR Yugoslavia , Slovenia	-	Nils Johan Semb	After a win, a defeat and a draw as third party with the fewest goals conceded of all participants in the preliminary round, eliminated.
2004	Portugal	not qualified				Failed in the relegation games to Spain .
2008	Austria and Switzerland	not qualified				In the qualification of Greece and after a home defeat in the penultimate round at the Turkey failed.
2012	Poland and Ukraine	not qualified				In the qualification of Denmark and on goal difference to Portugal failed.
2016	France	not qualified				In the qualification , Norway first met Italy , Croatia , Bulgaria , Azerbaijan and Malta . As third in the group, Norway then failed in the playoffs to Hungary .
2021	Europe					Norway had not applied to host games.

The tournaments

EM 1960

The Norwegians also wanted to take part in the first European football championship in 1960, which was still called the “European Cup of Nations”. To do this, they had to play against Austria in the round of 16 . On May 20, 1959, the Norwegians , who had been trained by Kristian Henriksen since the beginning of 1959, played their first European Championship qualifier in Oslo and lost 1-0. In the second leg four months later in Vienna they then lost 5-2, with Ove Ødegaard scoring both goals for Norway. Austria then failed in the quarter - finals against third place in the World Cup, France , who were then allowed to host the finals and came fourth. Henriksen's term of office ended in December 1959, his successor was Wilhelm Kment , who, however, was no longer in office for the second European Championship qualification.

EM 1964

Four years later, more teams than 1960 wanted to participate, so the round of 16 was preceded by a preliminary round . In the preliminary round, the Norwegians now trained by Ragnar Larsen met their neighbor Sweden . After a 2-0 home defeat, they scored 1-1 five months later in Malmö , but Norway were eliminated. Sweden then failed in the quarter-finals to defending champion Soviet Union .

EM 1968

For the European Football Championship in 1968, group games were scheduled for the first time in qualifying . Norway had to play against Bulgaria , Portugal and again their neighbor Sweden. After a defeat in the first game against Bulgaria and a defeat in a friendly against vice world champions Germany , Larsen's tenure ended. But even under his predecessor and successor Wilhelm Kment , Norway was only able to win the home game against neighboring Sweden and thus the first European Championship qualifier. In the other games it was only enough to a goalless draw with four defeats. Norway was eliminated as the bottom of the group. Group winners Bulgaria failed in the quarter-finals to Italy , which was then allowed to host the finals and, thanks to the luck of the draw and home advantage, became European champions. Kment remained in office, but his term of office ended after he missed qualifying for the 1970 World Cup .

European Championship 1972

The Norwegians, now trained by Øivind Johannessen , could not qualify for the European Championship finals in 1972 . In a group with Hungary , again Bulgaria and France, only the last place was occupied with one draw and five defeats. Group winners Hungary then also reached the finals and finished fourth. Johannessen's term of office ended in December 1971.

EM 1976

In 1976 the final round was held for the last time with four teams. The now of Kjell Schou-Andreassen and Nils Arne Eggen trained Norwegians met in the group stage of qualifying on Yugoslavia , Northern Ireland and Sweden again. Norway started with a 2-1 win against Northern Ireland, but then didn't score another goal and lost the remaining games, so that in the end only the last place jumped out again. Group winners Yugoslavia then qualified for the final round, were allowed to host it, but only finished fourth despite home advantage.

EM 1980

In qualifying for the European Championship in Italy, which was held for the first time with eight teams, the Norwegians met Belgium , Austria , Portugal and Scotland . After failing to qualify for the 1978 World Cup , Tor Røste Fossen took over as coach. This time it was only enough to a 1-1 draw in Belgium, which was nevertheless group winners, all other games were lost. With that, Norway left the group last, but Fossen remained in office. Belgium went to the European Championship and reached the final, but lost it to Germany .

EM 1984

The qualification went a little better four years later. In the qualification group with Yugoslavia and Bulgaria as well as Wales again this time they achieved one win and two draws. The three defeats meant again the last place. Group winners Yugoslavia reached the finals, but lost all games there.

EM 1988

Opponents in qualifying for the 1988 European Championship were the USSR , defending champions France, the GDR and Iceland . Norway could win against the defending champions, but this was the only victory. With two draws (one in France and one 0-0 against the GDR) and five defeats in the other games, Norway was again last. The change of coach in the middle of qualifying hadn't helped either. Even the new coach, Sweden's Tord Grip , did not manage to turn things around. The USSR reached the finals as group winners and there for the fourth time the final, but lost it to the Netherlands. Grip initially remained in office, followed by Ingvar Stadheim in July 1988 .

EM 1992

In the qualification , the Norwegians met the Soviet Union, as well as Italy , Hungary and Cyprus. Norway, which has been coached by Egil Olsen since October 1990 - after the first defeat in the qualification against the USSR - was able to win three qualifying games for the first time. a. 2-1 against Italy. Three other games ended in a draw (including 1-1 in Italy) and only two were lost. Norway was not last for the first time, but as third in the group, the final round was missed. Olsen stayed in office and with Norway made the second participation in the World Cup after 56 years.

Group winners USSR participated as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the final round, but failed in the preliminary round.

EM 1996

The 1996 European Championship was held for the first time with 16 teams and after the Norwegians had qualified for the 1994 World Cup and were unhappy there, they hoped to qualify for the European Championship finals. In a group with the Czech Republic , which took part for the first time after the split-up of Czechoslovakia , the Netherlands , Belarus , which also participated for the first time, Luxembourg and Malta , third place was not enough. The qualification was lost due to a 3-0 defeat in the last game in Rotterdam . The Dutch were tied, but with the better goal difference they were second in the group before the Norwegians, but then had to win a playoff game against the Irish to go to the European Championship together with the Czechs. After all, the Norwegians managed to qualify for the World Cup again afterwards .

EM 2000

The Norwegians were finally able to qualify for the EM 2000. Nils Johan Semb , previously coach of the U-21 team, took over as national coach after the 1998 World Cup . In a group with Greece , Slovenia , Latvia , Albania and Georgia , the first place was taken. Norway lost their first game, a home game against Latvia 3-1, but then won eight games and played one draw. In the end, the Norwegians had eight points ahead of Slovenia, which was able to prevail in the playoffs of the group runners-up against Ukraine.

At the European Championship, which was held in two countries for the first time, the Norwegians faced Spain in their first European Championship game , against which they had never won. The first European Championship goal for Norway by Steffen Iversen , who headed a long free kick from goalkeeper Thomas Myhre into the goal, was the first time a victory against the Iberians was achieved. In the second game against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, however, they lost 0: 1 with a goal already scored in the eighth minute. Before the last match day, everything was still open in the group, with a win against qualifying opponents Slovenia the Norwegians would have been in the quarter-finals, but they did not get past a 0-0. Since Spain beat West Yugoslavia 4: 3, with 3: 3 not falling until the fourth minute and 4: 3 in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Norway and West Yugoslavia both had four points and the same goal difference. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had won the game against Norway and thus the decisive direct comparison. Norway left the group as third and thus said goodbye to the European Championship for at least 16 years, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after a 6-1 defeat in the quarter-finals against co-hosts Netherlands forever.

EM 2004

In qualifying for the 2004 European Championships, the Norwegians met Denmark , Romania , Bosnia-Herzegovina and Luxembourg . Norway started with a draw and three wins in the qualification, but then lost in Denmark, only achieved a 1-1 draw against Romania and lost in Zenica . With a 1-0 win against Luxembourg, however, the second place with the fewest goals conceded was secured in front of the tied Romanians, as they had won the direct comparison against them. Second in group behind the directly qualified Danes, they had to go to the playoffs against Spain, but lost both games. For Nils Johan Semb, his tenure as national coach ended, he was followed by Åge Hareide . Spain then failed in the final round in the preliminary round.

EM 2008

In qualifying group C for the Euro 2008, the Norwegians met defending champions Greece, Turkey , again Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova and Malta. Behind the defending champion, the Norwegians and the Turks fought for third place, which the Turks won 2-1 in the penultimate game in Norway. Norway scored the most goals (27), but in the end it was one point less than the Turks, who went to the European Championships as runners-up with the Greeks and advanced to the semi-finals, whereas the Greeks lost their title in the preliminary round. In December 2008, Hareide resigned from his position as national coach and Egil Olsen took over the office again.

EM 2012

But even under Olsen, the qualification for the EM 2012 did not go any better. In a group with Portugal , Denmark , Iceland and Cyprus , the Norwegians again only took third place. They started with three wins, but then failed to win the home game against Denmark and then lost the second leg in Denmark and Portugal. Since they only scored 10: 7 goals, but the Portuguese with the same number of points had won 21:12 and in a direct comparison both won 1-0 once, the Norwegians were left behind. Denmark as group winners and Portugal went to the European Championship, where both met again in the preliminary round. Olsen initially stayed in office, but when qualification for the 2014 World Cup was missed, he was replaced by Per-Mathias Høgmo in September 2013 .

EM 2016

For the first time, 24 teams took part in the European Championship. For the draw for the qualifying groups , which took place on February 23, 2014, the Norwegians were placed in pot 3. The Norwegians were drawn into Group H. From the other pots the following were drawn: Italy , Croatia , Bulgaria , Azerbaijan and Malta .

The first two in the group qualified directly for the European Championship finals. Had the third-placed team finished third in the group, they would also have qualified directly. The remaining third in the group played four other participants in the playoffs.

The Norwegians lost their first game against Italy, then won three games, but then lost 5-1 in Croatia and were third after half of the games. After a goalless draw in the home game before the summer break against Azerbaijan, three followed after the summer break Victories, including a 2-0 against direct rivals Croatia. This put the Norwegians in second place before the last game in Italy, but had to win there as Croatia won the parallel game in Malta to qualify directly for the finals. Despite the 1-0 lead, they lost 2-1, so that the Norwegians fell back to 3rd place and therefore have to play in the relegation games of the third group against Hungary . With a 1-0 home game on November 12th, the Norwegians missed a good starting point for the second leg and couldn't turn the tide there, as they lost 2-1.

EM 2021

Norway had not applied to host games for the first pan-European European Championship finals. In qualifying , in which the organizers of the finals also had to take part, the Norwegians faced Spain, neighboring Sweden, Romania, the Faroe Islands and Malta. During the qualification for the 2018 World Cup, the Swede Lars Lagerbäck took over the office of national coach in Norway, but he was unable to lead the Norwegians to the World Cup. In qualifying for the European Championship, the Norwegians lost their first game in Spain with 1: 2 and only came to a draw in the next two home games after 2-0 lead (3: 3 against Sweden with the last goal conceded and equalization in added time and 2 : 2 against Romania with compensation in stoppage time). Against the Faroe Islands and Malta, they have two 2-0 wins. The second half of the qualification began with three 1-1 draws in Sweden, against Spain and in Romania. They then won the last two games against the Faroe Islands and Malta, but had no chance to qualify for the finals directly before the last game. In the end, third place jumped out. Since they were group winners in their league in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League , they can still qualify via the playoffs. They initially have home rights against Serbia in October 2020 and would have home rights again in the event of a win against the winner of the Scotland versus Israel game.

Player with the most appearances in European championships

10 players with three games.

Player with the most goals at European championships

Steffen Iversen , the only Norwegian European Championship goalscorer

Gates	player	Year (goals)
1	Steffen Iversen	2000 (1)

As of July 1, 2012

Players banned from European championships

In 2000 Erik Mykland received the second yellow card in the last group game , as the Norwegians were eliminated it had no effect.

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

Legionaries made up the main contingent in the only EM squad so far.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
2000 (3)	16 (2 in Denmark, 3 in Germany, 8 in England, 1 in France, 2 in Spain)	Stig Inge Bjørnebye (2), Ståle Solbakken (1); Erik Mykland (3), Kjetil Rekdal (0), Vidar Riseth (1); Trond Andersen (0), Eirik Bakke (3), Henning Berg (1), Tore André Flo (3), Vegard Heggem (2), Steffen Iversen (3), Thomas Myhre (3), Ole Gunnar Solskjær (3); John Arne Riise (0); Dan Eggen (3), Frode Olsen (0)