After disappointing in the past two major tournaments, including an 8-0 defeat by England, the Scandinavians are looking to improve under a new head coach
This article is part of the Guardian’s Euro 2025 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two teams each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 2 July.
Norway arrive in Switzerland hoping to show their true potential and improving on the past two major tournaments, which were huge disappointments and remembered for two things. At Euro 2022 Norway lost 8-0 to England and exited at the group stage while at the World Cup a year later the Barcelona star Caroline Graham Hansen was benched for the second game and came out swinging towards the coaching staff after the final whistle. They made it out of the group but lost meekly to Japan 3-1 in the last 16.
It is a new start in many ways for this team: there is a new head coach, the Englishwoman Gemma Grainger, and she has implemented a new formation. More important, perhaps, she began in February 2024 to build a new, more harmonious culture. A year later she gave the captain’s armband to Ada Stolsmo Hegerberg, who is extremely motivated to lead Norway to success this summer.
