Have you guys ever considered joining with other Scandinavian countries?
I always feel like having a full squad of talented players is still mostly about population. When you look at the last WC and Euro players, you always see the most populated countries (and with a high level of football locally, of course), with the only exceptions of Portugal for Euro 2016 and Greece in 2004. But even those are 10 millions people countries, while Norway is 5,4.
I can’t speak for Sweden or Denmark, but Norway is a fairly proud country when it comes to sports, we like the idea of being the little guy punching above our weight. For most people the idea of joining up with our Scandinavian (friendly) rivals is completely foreign.
Personally I’d rather go another 20 years without qualification than cheering on a Swede or Dane. Swedes and Danes may not be as hostile to idea as Norwegians though, as they don’t have the history of being occupied by the others.
Have you guys ever considered joining with other Scandinavian countries?
I always feel like having a full squad of talented players is still mostly about population. When you look at the last WC and Euro players, you always see the most populated countries (and with a high level of football locally, of course), with the only exceptions of Portugal for Euro 2016 and Greece in 2004. But even those are 10 millions people countries, while Norway is 5,4.
Uruguay with 3,4 makes it work somehow…
I can’t speak for Sweden or Denmark, but Norway is a fairly proud country when it comes to sports, we like the idea of being the little guy punching above our weight. For most people the idea of joining up with our Scandinavian (friendly) rivals is completely foreign.
Personally I’d rather go another 20 years without qualification than cheering on a Swede or Dane. Swedes and Danes may not be as hostile to idea as Norwegians though, as they don’t have the history of being occupied by the others.
True, I forgot about them! Last title in 2011, impressive!
Interesting, it’s true that the occupation history plays a big role