Given the nature of their heartbreaking defeat, Norway fans had every right to feel wronged and protest the result. But the Norwegians showed they were a class act by celebrating their best-ever World Cup run instead. Having added their flavor to the World Cup with a Viking row, the fans did it for one last time after going home.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
It was almost 3 a.m. in Oslo as the final whistle was blown at the Miami Stadium, indicating Norway lost the quarterfinal against England with a score of 2-1 after extra time. Shortly after the result, the streets of Oslo felt more like a carnival zone as thousands of Norwegians gathered at the Royal Palace.
Having taken only the positives from the World Cup, the fans sat down in numbers resembling the famous Viking rowers, as a fan led the drumming and the entire group started rowing on the ground. The Viking row was made popular by the Norwegian soccer team at the World Cup as the players rowed on the pitch after every game to celebrate their rich heritage.
“I have mixed feelings,” a fan from the group that gathered at the Oslo Palace said, according to Reuters. “A little bit disappointed but at the same time so proud. We made so much further than any of us anticipated.”
The 2026 FIFA World Cup was just Norway’s fourth campaign on the biggest stage. Having never gone past the round of 16, there were no expectations on the team. But skippered by Martin Odegaard and spearheaded by sharpshooter Erling Haaland, they surprised everyone at the tournament by punching their ticket to the knockouts.
The Viking row only added more appeal to their campaign as they won against the Ivory Coast in the round of 32. A sensational 2-1 victory against heavyweights Brazil took them to their first-ever quarterfinal.
Andreas Schjelderup gave them a shock lead against England in the last eight, but the Norwegians were on the end of a supposedly incorrect call as Jude Bellingham made it 1-1. They then had a goal ruled out due to the slightest of fouls and ultimately lost to a Bellingham winner in the first period of extratime as the game ended 2-1.
However, the spirit of the fans to just celebrate their team’s success and not be bothered about the results won millions of hearts.
“They did not riot. They did not burn cars. They did not smash bus stops or the glass windows of shops. They smiled. The laughed. They saw the positive in their performance. They celebrated their heritage. They were proud of who they had been in the past and who they are today,” a fan wrote on X.
World Cup exits do come with clashes and riots, as severe fan violence was seen in London and The Hague recently in the aftermath of Morocco’s exit against France in the World Cup.
Even though the fans found solace in their result and performance, Erling Haaland’s father and former Norwegian star Alf-Inge Haaland felt that they were robbed by FIFA. Despite the controversy these opinions might stir later on, Norway leaves North America as one of the stories of the World Cup.
