Norwegian Women's National Football Team / World Championships

Kingdom of Norway
Kongeriket Norge

World Cup record scorer :	Ann Kristin Aarønes (10)
World Cup record player:	Bente Nordby and Hege Riise (22 each).
Rank :	3
Balance sheet
40 World Cup games 24 wins 4 draws 12 defeats 93:52 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Norway 0: 4 PR China Guangzhou ( CHN ); November 16, 1991
Biggest World Cup victory Norway 8-0 Nigeria Karlstad ( SWE ) June 6, 1995
Biggest World Cup defeat Norway 0-5 PR China Foxborough , USA ; 4th July 1999
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	8 ( first : 1991 )
Best results	World Champion, 1995
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 27, 2019 )

The article provides a detailed account of the Norwegian national football team at World Cups . Norway were able to qualify for all women's World Cup finals and are in third place in the all-time table . The Norwegians became the first European team to become women's world champions, but then could not reach the final.

The national team at world championships

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1991	People's Republic of China	final	United States	Vice world champion	Even Pellerud
1995	Sweden	final	Germany	World Champion	Even Pellerud	Ann Kristin Aarøne's top scorer
1999	United States	3rd place match	Brazil	4th	Per-Mathias Hagmo	Defeat on penalties
2003	United States	Quarter finals	United States	7th	Age Steen
2007	People's Republic of China	3rd place match	United States	4th	Bjarne Berntsen
2011	Germany	Preliminary round	Equatorial Guinea , Brazil , Australia	10.	Eli Landsem	First out in the preliminary round of an ex-world champion
2015	Canada	Round of 16	England	10.	Even Pellerud
2019	France	Quarter finals		England	Martin Sjogren	In qualifying , the team met the Netherlands , Ireland , Slovakia and Northern Ireland . With a win on the last match day against the Netherlands, the direct qualification succeeded. Opponents in France were the hosts in the group stage, as well as Nigeria and South Korea. Round of 16 win on penalties against Australia.

statistics

(Information incl. 2019: eight world championships)

• not participated: never (0%)
• Qualified without qualification (as host): never (0%)
• qualified: eight times (100%)
  • Preliminary round: once (12.5%; 2011)
  • Round of 16: once (12.5%; 2011)
  • Quarter-finals: twice (25%; 2003, 2019)
  • Match for 3rd place: twice (25%; 1999 and 2007)
  • Vice world champion: once (12.5%; 1991)
  • World champion: once (12.5%; 1995)

The tournaments

World Cup 1991 in the People's Republic of China

Lineups in the first women's World Cup final

For the first women's World Cup, the Norwegians qualified second in the 1991 European Championship . But they had initially prevailed in the European Championship qualification with five wins and one draw without conceding a goal against England , Finland and Belgium . In the quarter-finals against Hungary they then had to accept the first goal in a 2-1 home win, but won the away game 2-0. So they were already qualified for the World Cup. At the European Championship finals, Denmark was defeated on penalties after a goalless 100 minutes - the regular playing time at that time was 2 × 40 minutes . The final against Germany also went into extra time, in which the Germans won 3-1.

In the People's Republic of China , Norway was drawn into the group with the hosts, Denmark and New Zealand. In the first game of an official women's World Cup, they lost 4-0 to the Chinese . They then won the second game against New Zealand 4-0. These meetings allowed Linda Medalen after an own goal by Terry McCahill first Norwegian a World Cup goal. In the game for second place in the group, the Danes were defeated 2-1 and thus reached the quarter-finals. But the Danes also made it into the knockout round as the best third party in the group. Opponents in the quarter-finals were the Italians . Norway were able to take the lead twice, but always had to accept the equalizer and into overtime. In this, Tina Svensson secured the 3-2 victory with a converted penalty. In the semifinals, neighboring Sweden was the opponent and the Norwegians were able to move into the final after 0: 1 deficit with a 4: 1. The opponents in the final were the USA , which had previously won all games and could not be defeated in the final either. Although Linda Medalen was able to equalize the USA's lead with her sixth goal, Michelle Akers secured the US girls' 2-1 victory with her second final goal and was also the first top scorer with a total of 10 goals.

World Cup 1995 in Sweden

For the World Cup in the neighboring country , the Norwegians qualified as semi-finalists in the 1995 European Championship . In qualifying , Norway prevailed with five wins and one draw against Finland, Hungary and the Czech Republic . In the quarter-finals, Norway prevailed with two victories against Italy and was thus qualified for the World Cup. In the semifinals they won the first leg against Sweden 4: 3, but lost in Sweden 1: 4.

At the World Cup in Sweden they faced African champions Nigeria in their first game and won 8-0. This was followed by a 2-0 win against England and a 7-0 win against newcomer Canada . In the quarter-finals against Denmark, they then conceded their first goal at 3-1. In the semifinals, there was revenge for the previous World Cup final. This time the Norwegians had the better end for themselves and won 1-0. This was the first time the USA had lost a World Cup game. The final opponent was European champions Germany and in the pouring rain, Hege Riise and Marianne Pettersen made the decision for the Norwegians shortly before half-time. This was the first time that Norway was world champion. By making it into the quarter-finals, Norway had already qualified for the first women's football tournament at the 1996 Olympic Games , in which only the eight best teams from the World Cup could take part.

World Cup 1999 in the USA

In contrast to the men's World Cup, where the defending champion was automatically qualified until 2002, the defending champion also had to qualify for the second women's World Cup. For the third World Cup, UEFA scheduled separate qualifying matches for the first time and to date the only continental association. In the qualification , Norway met the final opponent from 1995 as well as the Netherlands and England . With four wins, one draw and one defeat in Germany, Norway took first place one point ahead of Germany and qualified directly for the World Cup. Germany, which had lost to the Dutch as well as Norway, also qualified for the World Cup finals through the playoffs of the group runners-up against Ukraine .

In the USA, the Norwegians won their opening game against newcomer Russia 2-1. This was followed by a 7-1 win against Canada and a 4-0 win against Japan . In the quarter-finals, their neighbor Sweden was the opponent again and Norway reached the semi-finals with a 3-1 for the third time in a row. There China was superior and won 5-0. The game for game for third place against Brazil was then goalless for 90 minutes. Due to the subsequent final, no extra time was played and a penalty shoot-out was immediately scheduled, which Brazil won 5-4. In fourth place, however, Norway had qualified for the women's soccer tournament at the 2000 Olympic Games , in which, apart from hosts Australia, only the seven best teams from the World Cup could take part. Norway then won the Olympic gold medal there and became the second team after the USA to become continental champions, world champions and Olympic champions.

2003 World Cup in the USA

The 2003 World Cup should actually take place again in the People's Republic of China . Because of the SARS epidemic, the tournament was moved to the USA at short notice. This was the second time that the World Cup took place in the USA. In the qualification , Norway met France , Ukraine and the Czech Republic. With five wins and one draw, Norway qualified as group winners for the World Cup. The second-placed French women also managed to qualify in the playoffs of the group runners-up with a 2-0 and a 1-1 draw against Denmark.

In the USA they met again in their first group game against qualifying opponents France and won 2-0. A 1: 4 defeat against Brazil followed, but with a 7: 1 against South Korea they reached the quarter-finals as second in the group. Here again the USA were the opponents and after a 0: 1 the semi-finals were not reached for the first time. In this, however, the USA failed to Germany, so that they could not defend their title. With the quarter-finals, Norway had also missed the qualification for the women's soccer tournament at the 2004 Olympic Games in which, besides hosts Greece, only the two best European teams of the World Cup could take part, so Norway had no chance to defend the title as Olympic champion.

World Cup 2007 in the People's Republic of China

Four years later the World Cup took place in the People's Republic of China for the second time . In qualifying , Norway faced Ukraine, Italy, Serbia and Greece . With seven wins and one draw, the Norwegians prevailed confidently.

They met Canada in the first game of the finals. After two high victories in previous finals, this time it was only enough to a 2-1 and in the second game against Australia only to a 1: 1. Against Ghana, however, a 7-2 followed, with Ragnhild Gulbrandsen scoring three goals alone. Norway were group winners and met hosts China in the quarter-finals. With 1-0 the Norwegians were able to return the favor for the semi-final defeat eight years earlier and move into the semi-finals. Here they met European champions and defending champions Germany and lost 3-0. Germany was then able to win the final against Brazil and was the first team to defend the World Cup title without conceding a goal in the tournament. Norway, however, also lost the small final against the USA with 1: 4 and thus for the first time in a World Cup three games. By reaching the semi-finals, Norway had secured qualification for the women's football tournament at the 2008 Olympic Games , in which only the three best European teams from the World Cup could take part.

World Cup 2011 in Germany

The Norwegians qualified for the World Cup in Germany with seven wins and one draw against the Netherlands, Belarus , Slovakia and Macedonia . Here come Isabell Herlovsen at 14: 0 victory over Macedonia six goals. With a 4-0 win on the penultimate matchday in Slovakia, Norway qualified ahead of time for the group winners' playoffs, which were necessary this time. Ukraine was defeated 1-0 and 2-0 and the ticket to the World Cup was booked.

In Germany, Norway was drawn into a group with World Cup newcomers Equatorial Guinea , runner-up world champions Brazil and Australia . In the first game against the newcomer to the World Cup, the Norwegians struggled for a long time and only came in the 84th minute to the redeeming 1-0, which then remained. A 3-0 defeat then followed against Brazil. The last game against Australia was about second place. Norway took a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute, but had to accept the equalizer immediately. Since the Australians had the better goal difference, this draw was enough for them to move into the quarter-finals, so Norway pushed for the winning goal, but had to accept the 1: 2 in the 87th minute and could not equalize it. Norway was eliminated in the preliminary round for the first time and was therefore unable to qualify for the women's football tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games , in which only the two best European teams from the World Cup and Great Britain were able to take part as hosts. Group winners Brazil and Australia both failed in the quarterfinals.

2015 World Cup in Canada

In the qualification the Norwegians prevail again as winners. In the group, the opponents were the Netherlands, who qualified for the World Cup for the first time via the playoffs, Belgium, Portugal , Greece and, for the first time, Albania . After nine wins, Norway was the third European team to qualify for the World Cup finals on September 13, 2014. The last game against the Netherlands was then lost, but could be coped with as the Netherlands only came away with a 1-1 draw in their home game against Belgium.

When the groups were drawn, the Norwegians were not seeded and were drawn to group B with European champions Germany , against whom they had lost the last European Championship final. Other group opponents were the newcomers to the World Cup Thailand and Ivory Coast .

In the group they prevailed confidently and only came second because of the worse goal difference behind Germany. In the round of 16 Norway lost 2-1 to England and were eliminated. Norway had thus also missed the direct qualification for the women's soccer tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games , but still had the chance to get the third European Olympic ticket in the playoffs against the three other European round of 16 losers. National coach Pellerud resigned from his post in August, believing that the chances of qualifying for the Olympics would be higher without him. That was exactly what they missed in March 2016, when they only achieved one win and two defeats and only finished 4th place.

World Cup 2019 in France

In the qualification , the team had to play against European champions Netherlands , Ireland , Slovakia and Northern Ireland . After victories against Northern Ireland and Slovakia, the Norwegians lost 1-0 in the Netherlands. After that, they won all games, including the home game against the Netherlands 2-1 on the last matchday. Although the direct comparison through the more away goals scored spoke for the Dutch women, since they only had a goalless draw in the home game against Ireland in November, they had - although they won all other games - in the end two points less than the Norwegians who thus managed to qualify directly.

Group opponents in France were the hosts as well as Nigeria and South Korea. The Norwegians started with a 3-0 win against Nigeria, then lost 2-1 to France and secured second place with a 2-1 win against South Korea. They met Australia in the round of 16. Since it was 1: 1 after 120 minutes, there was a penalty shoot-out , which the Norwegians won 4: 1. In the quarter-finals against England they fell behind in the third minute and conceded the second goal shortly before the break. In the second half they were unable to take advantage of several chances and instead conceded the third goal. Due to the elimination, they could not qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Games

Norway has played 40 World Cup games so far, only the two-time world champions USA (47) and Germany (43) have played more games. Of these, 24 won, 12 lost and four ended in a draw. Games went into overtime three times because a winner had to be determined. One was won by a goal in extra time, one won and one lost on penalties . Norway played twice in the opening game: in 1991 in the first game of a women's World Cup and in 2003. Norway played four times against the hosts: 1991, 2003, 2007 and 2019. Norway played twice against the eventual world champions (1991 in the final and 2007 in the semi-finals) and three times against the defending champion. Norway played the most frequently (4 times) against the USA (one win, three losses). Six games were the first so far against the respective opponents.

Norway played against teams from all six confederations and also against the champions of all confederations (18 times), most often (5 times) against the Central and North American champions .

Most games were played by Bente Nordby and Hege Riise (22 each). The highest number of goals (10) was scored by Ann Kristin Aarønes , who is seventh on the list of the best World Cup goalscorers .

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent	venue	occasion	Remarks
1	11/16/1991	0: 4	People's Republic of China	Guangzhou ( CHN )	Group game / opening game	First women's World Cup game, 100th game by NFF counting
2	11/19/1991	4-0	New Zealand	Guangzhou ( CHN )	Group game	First game counted by the NFF against New Zealand. First game against a reigning Oceania champion
3	11/21/1991	2: 1	Denmark	Panyu ( CHN )	Group game
4th	11/24/1991	3: 2 a.d.	Italy	Jiangmen ( CHN )	Quarter finals
5	11/27/1991	4: 1	Sweden	Panyu ( CHN )	Semifinals
6th	11/30/1991	1: 2	United States	Guangzhou ( CHN )	final	100th game by FIFA count, 100th international game by Gunn Nyborg
7th	06/06/1995	8-0	Nigeria	Karlstad ( SWE )	Group game	First game against Nigeria and one of Nigeria's three biggest defeats (also a 0: 8 against Germany on November 25, 2010 and a 0: 8 against France on April 6, 2018). First game against a reigning African champion
8th	06/08/1995	2-0	England	Karlstad ( SWE )	Group game
9	06/10/1995	7-0	Canada	Gävle ( SWE )	Group game
10	06/13/1995	3: 1	Denmark	Karlstad ( SWE )	Quarter finals
11	06/15/1995	1-0	USA (TV)	Västerås ( SWE )	Semifinals
12	06/18/1995	2-0	Germany	Solna ( SWE )	final	First world title
13	06/20/1999	2: 1	Russia	Foxborough ( USA )	Group game
14th	06/23/1999	7: 1	Canada	Landover ( USA )	Group game
15th	06/26/1999	4-0	Japan	Chicago ( USA )	Group game
16	06/30/1999	3: 1	Sweden	San Jose ( USA )	Quarter finals
17th	07/04/1999	0: 5	People's Republic of China	Foxborough ( USA )	Semifinals	One of the two biggest defeats
18th	07/10/1999	0: 0 a.d., 4: 5 i. E.	Brazil	Los Angeles ( USA )	3rd place match
19th	09/20/2003	2-0	France	Philadelphia ( USA )	Group game
20th	09/24/2003	1: 4	Brazil	Washington, DC ( USA )	Group game
21st	09/27/2003	7: 1	South Korea	Foxborough ( USA )	Group game	First game against South Korea
22nd	10/01/2003	0: 1	USA (TV)	Foxborough ( USA )	Quarter finals
23	09/12/2007	2: 1	Canada	Hangzhou ( CHN )	World Cup group game
24	09/15/2007	1: 1	Australia	Hangzhou ( CHN )	Group game
25th	09/20/2007	7: 2	Ghana	Hangzhou ( CHN )	Group game	Only game against Ghana so far
26th	09/23/2007	1-0	People's Republic of China	Wuhan ( CHN )	Quarter finals
27	09/26/2007	0: 3	Germany (TV)	Tianjin ( CHN )	Semifinals
28	09/30/2007	1: 4	United States	Shanghai ( CHN )	3rd place match
29	06/29/2011	1-0	Equatorial Guinea	Augsburg ( DEU )	Group game	First game against Equatorial Guinea
30th	07/03/2011	0: 3	Brazil	Wolfsburg ( DEU )	Group game
31	07/06/2011	1: 2	Australia	Leverkusen ( DEU )	Group game
32	06/07/2015	4-0	Thailand	Ottawa ( CAN )	Group game
33	06/11/2015	1: 1	Germany	Ottawa ( CAN )	Group game
34	06/13/2015	3: 1	Ivory Coast	Moncton ( CAN )	Group game	First game against Ivory Coast
35	06/22/2015	1: 2	England	Ottawa ( CAN )	Round of 16
36	06/08/2019	3-0	Nigeria	Reims ( FRA )	Group game
37	06/12/2019	1: 2	France	Nice ( FRA )	Group game
38	06/17/2019	2: 1	South Korea	Reims ( FRA )	Group game
39	06/22/2019	1: 1 n.V .; 4: 1 i. E.	Australia	Nice ( FRA )	Round of 16
40	06/27/2019	0: 3	England	Le Havre ( FRA )	Quarter finals

Note: Teams in bold were champions of their confederation at the time of the match.

Record against the other world champions at world championships

• Germany : 3 games - 1 win, 1 draw, 1 defeat - 3: 4 goals
• Japan : 1 game - 1 win - 4-0 goals
• USA : 4 games - 1 win, 3 defeats - 3-7 goals

The Norwegian team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Equatorial Guinea 1-0 (2011, preliminary round) - only game against Equatorial Guinea
•  Ivory Coast 3-1 (2015, preliminary round) - only game against Ivory Coast
•  Ghana 7-2 (2007, preliminary round) - only game against Ghana
•  Japan 4-0 (1999, preliminary round) - also a 4-0 in the OS group game in 1996
•  New Zealand 4-0 (1991, preliminary round)
•  Nigeria 8-0 (1995, preliminary round)
•  South Korea 7-1 (2003, preliminary round)
•  Thailand 4-0 (2015, preliminary round) - also a 4-0 at the Women's FIFA Invitational Tournament in 1988

The Norwegian team suffered their biggest defeats at a World Cup tournament against these countries:

•  Australia 1: 2 (2011, preliminary round) - also a 3: 4 at the Algarve Cup 2018
•  Brazil 1: 4 and 0: 3 (2003 and 2011, preliminary rounds)
•  People's Republic of China 0-5 (1999 semi-finals)
•  England 0: 3 (2019 quarter-finals), also a 0: 3 in a friendly game in 2009

Records

Players

• The youngest participant to become world champion: Ingrid Sternhoff , without commitment at 18 years and 111 days; Marianne Pettersen (Norway) at 19 years and 186 days, used in the 1995 final.
• In 1995 Ann Kristin was Aarøne's top scorer with 6 goals
• Marianne Pettersen scored the 300th World Cup goal on June 30, 1999 with the 2-0 (final score 3: 1) against Sweden and Ragnhild Gulbrandsen scored the 500th goal at a World Cup in a 7-2 win against Ghana on September 20, 2007 Women.

team

• The longest winning streak: 10 games (1995 to 1999)
• The longest streak with at least one goal per game: 1991–1999 - 15 games
• The biggest victory in a tournament: 1995 in Sweden - Norway against Nigeria 8-0 in the preliminary round
• Most games against the hosts: Norway (4 ×)
• In 1995 Norway was the first team to defeat the defending champions: 1-0 in the semi-finals against the USA
• In 2003, Norway and the USA met for the first time in the quarter-finals (0: 1) for two former world champions at a World Cup.
• Norway was the first team to make it to the finals twice in a row (1991, 1995) (1 won)
• Norway reached the final as the first group runner-up in the preliminary round (1991).
• Norway became the first team to become world champions in 1995 without conceding a goal in the final (2-0)
• Norway, Canada and Germany are the only countries that played the opening game twice (1991 and 2003 or 2007 and 2011).
• Norway was the most frequent opponent in the first World Cup match: 1991 for China PR, 1999 for Russia, 2003 for France, 2011 for Equatorial Guinea and 2015 for Thailand
• Norway was the only team to play against four African World Cup participants (Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria) and won all games. Only against Cameroon, which participated for the first time in 2015, and South Africa, which participated for the first time in 2019, have not yet been played.

Trainers

• Most participations as coach: 5, Even Pellerud (Norway 3 × Canada 2 ×)
• Most coaching games: Even Pellerud (25, Norway / 16, Canada / 9)
• Most wins: 16, Even Pellerud (12 with Norway, 4 with Canada)
• Most of the trained countries: 2, Even Pellerud (Norway 1991 and 1995; Canada 2003 and 2007) and Marika Domanski Lyfors (Sweden 1999 and 2003 and China 2007), John Herdman (New Zealand 2007 and 2011 and Canada 2015) and Pia Sundhage (USA 2011 and Sweden 2015).
• Even Pellerud is the first coach to reach the semi-finals with two countries. 1991 and 1995 with Norway and subsequent title win against Germany, 2003 with Canada and subsequent defeat in the game for 3rd place (1: 3) against the USA.

opponent

• First own goal: Terry McCahill (New Zealand) in the game against Norway on November 19, 1991.

Negative records

• The first penalty awarded: Tone Haugen in the 1st World Cup game on November 16, 1991 against China
• Biggest semi-final defeat: 1999 in the USA - Norway against the People's Republic of China 0-5
• Most defeats in knockout games: Norway and China (6 each, 1 each from penalties )
• Norway is the first former world champion to be eliminated in the preliminary round of a World Cup (2011).
• Norway (1991/0, 1995/3) and Germany (1995/1, 2003/0, 2007/2) received the most warnings in the final
• Norway is the only team that has lost at least one game in all possible rounds (preliminary round including opening game, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, third-place match and final).

See also

• Norwegian National Football Team / World Championships

Web links

• FIFA Women's World Cup ^TM

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} In some statistics, e.g. B. Boston is named as the venue for FIFA .
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games, see Technical Report FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 ™ , page 159
3. ↑ Because England, as the seventh best team, was not allowed to start at the Olympic Games, Brazil was also able to participate as the ninth best team.
4. ↑ fifa.com: "Olympic Football Tournament Atlanta Women 1996"
5. ↑ framba.de: "Women's World Cup 2015: group draw degenerates into a farce" ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ fifa.com: "Norway's national coach Pellerud resigns"
7. ↑ In some statistics, e.g. B. FIFA is named Washington, DC as the venue.
8. ↑ fifa.com: “Statistical Kit FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 ™”, page 36 ( Memento from January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )