Women’s Euro 2025 Team Previews | Norway
The two-time European Championship winners will be looking for a better tournament than their previous two efforts. How are Gemma Grainger’s side looking heading into this summer’s competition?
After the two previous tournaments saw Norway fall at the group stages, there will be a bit of hope now that they can have a much better showing this summer in Switzerland.
For a long time, they have boasted many top players amongst their squad, yet they have flattered to deceive on occasions. Despite having this group of experienced quality and up-and-coming talent, there will be questions once again of whether they have it in them to go far.
In qualifying for this summer’s Euros, they had to go through the playoffs. Having started well in their qualifying group, they then failed to register any victories in their last five group qualifying games until those two-legged playoffs, where they eased past Albania in high-scoring fashion and then beat Northern Ireland afterwards to progress. They didn’t concede in either of their playoff encounters over the four games.
Group A opponents and fixtures:
Switzerland | 2nd July - 8PM BST
Finland | 6th July - 5PM BST
Iceland | 10th July - 8PM BST
They do come up against stronger opposition in Group A for this tournament, but on paper you would have them as favourites to finish top if everything can click together, and it’s Gemma Grainger’s job this time to try and rebuild this once dominant force. In 1987 and 1993, it was a golden generation that won Norway the Women’s European Championships and then on four other previous occasions, other Norwegian teams have been beaten finalists. Add to that they have been World Cup winners and Olympic Gold medallists in 1995 and 2000 respectively.
Squad:
Goalkeepers | Cecilie Fiskerstrand (Fiorentina), Aurora Mikalsen (FC Köln), Selma Panengstuen (SK Brann)
Defenders | Tuva Hansen (Bayern Munich), Guro Bergsvand (VFL Wolfsburg), Maren Mjelde (Free Agent), Thea Bjelde (VFL Wolfsburg), Marit Bratberg Lund (SL Benfica), Emilie Woldvik (FC Rosengård), Mathilde Harviken (Juventus)
Midfielders | Ingrid Syrstad Engen (Barcelona), Vilde Bøe Risa (Atlético Madrid), Justine Kielland (VFL Wolfsburg), Lisa Naalsund (Manchester United), Karina Sævik (Vålerenga), Frida Leonhardsen Maanum (Arsenal), Guro Reiten (Chelsea)
Forwards | Celin Bizet Ildhusøy (Manchester United), Signe Gaupset (SK Brann), Synne Jensen (Atlético Madrid), Caroline Graham Hansen (FC Barcelona), Ada Hegerberg (OL Lyonnes), Elisabeth Terland (Manchester United)
You look at Norway’s crop of internationals today and it’s filled with players who have amassed huge amounts of success at their clubs, but on the international stage things just haven’t worked in the same way.
Take their attacking options for example, Caroline Graham Hansen, Ada Hegerberg, Guro Reiten, and Frida Leonhardsen Maanum are all top players in their own right. They are heading into this tournament as the experienced bunch now with younger players in the squad looking to them as the inspiration and wanting to achieve something for them in particular.
It’s defensively where Norway can come unstuck at times and it’s interesting to note that when they have come up against some of the top nations, that’s when they start to stutter. Remember England at Euro 2022? Losing 8-0 to the hosts in the group stages of the last tournament, and also losing 1-0 to the Netherlands in 2017. It will be the third time in a row they come up against the home nation at the Euros.
Player to Watch - Caroline Graham Hansen
You can take your pick in terms of players to watch in this Norway team, but we’ve gone for one of the obvious choices in Barcelona’s Caroline Graham Hansen. She has been such a strong player for the Spanish club for many years now and has often gone under the radar amongst that squad as well a times.
She’s consistently been one of the best players in the world even without receiving the plaudits in terms of awards and perhaps much of that has come down to not having that same success internationally with Norway.
A player of her quality and talents can be someone who has the ability to get teams over the line in big matches. It’s just about making sure she is used correctly and making sure that she can get on the ball to produce crucial moments that might just steer Norway where they are trying to get to. Even if she isn’t scoring goals, having Graham Hansen create for the likes of Hegerberg, Maanum, and others could be pivotal for the Norwegians.
Manager - Gemma Grainger
The English coach was appointed in January 2024 after she departed Wales, where she had gone close in guiding them to their first major tournament when trying to qualify for the last World Cup. It almost feels poetic that both she and Wales make their major tournament debuts in Switzerland.
Despite not winning those last five qualifying group games that put Norway in the playoffs, she has only lost three games while in charge, which were to Netherlands and France. The two defeats to France have both happened this year, but it won’t dampen her view of what she wants to achieve with this squad.
One of the big questions for her will be whether she is the one who is capable of restoring some success to the Norwegian women’s national team. She’s got the players to match the ambition, but will everything work as she wants once the tournament begins?
How will they do?
It’s always the question with Norway: how will they do? And it’s amazing because you can predict them to do well and then they come up short and prove to be really disappointing.
They have got such a good squad that allows you to back them and when you see the group they find themselves in as well, it’s hard not to think that they should be finishing top of Group A. They played Iceland and Switzerland recently in the Nations League, beating Switzerland twice and then drawing both times against Iceland.
Unless they underwhelm once again, they should be finishing second at the very least. Iceland and Finland might be the tougher tests in this group, but the star power they have in their squad should be able to get them over the line this time. Other than that, with the potential of a tough quarter-final match-up, we might see them fall early in the knockouts. If they go further than that, then it would be a surprise in our minds.
Strange they don’t have a player like Sophie Román Haug, she’s so good in the air and it’s a different type of player !