Though Oslo is nearly 16,000 kilometres away from Sydney, that vast distance hasn’t deterred Norwegian football enthusiasts from bringing a slice of their homeland spirit to the iconic harbour city in celebration of Norway’s unprecedented World Cup journey.
Surprising many, Norway has carved a niche for itself as the dark horse in this year’s World Cup. Their stellar performance in the group stage, which involved victories over Côte d’Ivoire and the formidable five-time champion Brazil, propelled them into the quarter-finals, marking a historic first for Norwegian football.
For a nation with a population of merely 5.6 million and competing in only its fourth World Cup appearance, after a 28-year hiatus, this feat stands as truly extraordinary.
To mark this monumental achievement, members of the Norwegian community in Sydney assembled at the steps of the Sydney Opera House last Saturday. There, they engaged in the celebrated “Norwegian row,” one of the tournament’s most famous fan celebrations.
Prior to this lively celebration, Sophia Toftdahl, president of the Norwegian Australian Chamber of Commerce, expressed to SBS News the immense pride that envelops this close-knit community regarding their team’s achievements.
“[The team] are just being very humble about it, happy and celebrating, which is a very kind of Norwegian thing, and that makes us super proud,” she said.
Star striker Erling Haaland has become the face of Norway’s World Cup campaign and is in the race for the Golden Boot, awarded to the tournament’s top scorer, with seven goals, leaving him one behind France’s Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s Lionel Messi who are tied at present.
Toftdahl said Haaland was a natural leader, but the squad’s success had been built on its collective approach.
“Whenever we’ve come together to watch the games, I’m hearing a lot of the Norwegians say the same things, like ‘look how well they play together, how they’re leveraging each other’s strengths, how no one has an ego’,” she said.
Toftdahl, who arrived in Australia as an international student in 2003, said the Norwegian Australian Chamber of Commerce was founded in 2014 to strengthen business links between the two countries while also celebrating Norwegian culture.
“You can take a Norwegian out of Norway, but not take Norway out of a Norwegian,” she said.
“We follow our traditions … [celebrating] our annual 17th of May [Norway’s Constitution Day] and Christmas events, when the community groups in different states get together, with traditional Norwegian food.”
‘Why not?’
Now, Norway hopes its fairytale run continues with an upset against England on Sunday.
“That’s the thing about being a dark horse, you know … taking the opportunity that’s in front of them,” Toftdahl said.
“This might be one of those few opportunities, and they’ve done so well, so why not?”
Stig Falster, co-president of the Norwegian Australian Chamber of Commerce, said Norway was traditionally a powerhouse at the Winter Olympics, but was now proving itself to be a footballing nation.
“Over the years, we’ve produced quite a few good players, like Erling Haaland, and he’s now obviously one of the faces of the football team,” he said.
“There are a couple of other good strikers in there, so the advantage we’ve got at the moment is that with him being in the centre … he attracts a lot of attention, which then actually opens up the possibility for some of the others [to score].
“England’s a good side, but looking at the way they faltered in their last game, I think we have a very good chance to beat them.”
According to the 2021 Census, nearly 4,000 Norwegian-born people live in Australia, while about 32,000 Australians are of Norwegian descent.
Eva Gaarder, head of the Australian chapter of the Association for Norwegian Students Abroad, said there were hundreds of Norwegian exchange students across Australia, with many organising watch parties or gathering at pubs to cheer on the national team.
“It’s a very close-knit community, you know. Norway is a small country, but we do have quite a bit of a Norwegian population down here,” she told SBS News.
“As Norwegians, we kind of know where to find each other.”
Gaarder admitted feeling a touch of FOMO (fear of missing out) as football fever swept across Norway.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the videos or pictures of what Norway looks like right now, but there’s more people in the streets than there is on [Norway’s] Constitution Day,” she said.
More than 90,000 fans flooded the streets of Oslo after Norway’s 2-1 win over Brazil in the Round 16.
Tens of thousands more gathered at the Ullevaal stadium, where Norway plays its home games, watching on giant screens from long bar tables and benches, and throwing their drinks in the air at the final whistle.
So loud have the celebrations been that the country’s seismology institute, NORSAR, said it recorded earth tremors in the coastal city of Bergen when Haaland scored in Norway’s group game against Iraq.
Norway will take on England at Miami Stadium at 7am AEST on Sunday, which you can watch live and free on SBS or SBS On Demand.
You can watch all 104 matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ live, free and exclusive on SBS, SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.