Can the Norwegian pioneers revive old times in women’s football?

With a stoic look, Ada Hegerberg runs to the sidelines, hits her right hand on her chest three times and points to the field and then convenes her team wide. As if she wants to say, “I belong here, we belong here.” Hegerberg has just made up against host country Switzerland in the official opening duel of the European Football Championship.

It is not just a goal – but only her first at a final tournament since 2015. Five years, she refused to play for the national team, in protest against the interaction of the Norwegian federation with women’s football. The tournaments she did play were disappointing for Hegerberg (30), Champions League top scorer of all time and chosen as the best player in the world in 2018.

The tournaments did not end well for the national team either. But now Hegerberg is standing with Norway in the quarterfinals of the European Championship, Wednesday is waiting in Geneva Italy.

Norway is one of the precursors in women’s football. In the first years after the founding of the major international tournaments – in the eighties and nineties – Norway almost always finished in the last four. But due to the rapid development of sport in other countries, Norway was surpassed.

Protest

After the disappointing European Championship in 2017 – Norway did not score and lost all duels – star player Hegerberg decided to insert a ‘break’ from the national team. She had often publicly criticized the union with women’s football. In Norway that did not go well, her decision would be selfish.

But she could also count on support. Among other things from Lise Klaveness, at the time football analyst. “Ada Hegerberg argues for a performance culture, high standards, a qualitative sports program and good leadership,” Klaveness wrote in an opinion piece for the National Omroep NRK.

Klaveness – former Norwegian International and lawyer – became director of Top football in the Norwegian Bond and in 2022 Federal President. That also meant the return of Hegerberg to the national team. However, the high expectations around her return were not realized. At the European Championship that summer, the team lost 8-0 to England.

Zoom in

That same year, for a very different reason, the Norwegian union received global attention. In the run-up to the men’s World Championship in Qatar, at the end of 2022, Klaveness caused a rise in the FIFA congress against the “unacceptable way” on which the tournament was assigned to the Gulf state, with “unacceptable consequences”. She pointed out the human rights situation in the country and called for compensation for the families of guest workers who were killed in the construction of stadiums.

Klaveness only pointed to FIFA on their own statutes and responsibilities, she said. The Norwegian union, who was also one of the few unions against the Israeli violence in Gaza, differs from other federations, which often opt for a diplomatic tone.

Knighted

Klaveness-since this spring one of the two female members in the UEFA board-and Hegerberg, fit into a tradition of Norwegian pioneers in women’s football. Ellen Wille was at the cradle of the World Cup for women with a speech at the 1986 FIFA congress. Karen Espelund joined the UEFA board in 2011. And by Omdal, former vice-chairman of UEFA and Preses of the Norwegian Bond, it was hard for women’s football. Before that he was knighted in Norway in 2022. Klavess describes Omdal opposite the news agency AP If her “mentor” with whom she still has contact every week.

On Wednesday, it must be apparent whether Norway can revive old times by placing themselves for the first time in twelve years for the semi -finals at a final tournament. Although the leader, Hegerberg is still not undisputed in his own country. In the third group duel against Iceland – the Norwegians were already certain of the quarterfinals – experimentation was made with a different vanguard. The 20-year-old Signe Gaupset in particular made an impression. In a poll, 75 percent Hegerberg said they would rather see it starting on the couch against Italy.

For Klaveness, the legacy of Hegerberg will not depend on that one match. “Ada already sees that she is part of something bigger, a connection with history.”

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