The case in a nutshell • Over 30,000 children from home and abroad will take part in this year’s Norway Cup at Ekebergsletta, which is a record entry.• A total of 2,251 teams from 30 different nations are registered, including teams from Mexico, the USA, Germany and Gambia.• Due to due to weather conditions and the poor condition of some of the courts at Ekebergsletta, several matches are moved to other places in the city.• A girls’ team from Gambia, which is sponsored by the organization ScanAid, will participate in the tournament for the first time. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. 2251 teams from all over the world are registered. – There is a record number of entries for this year’s Norway Cup, says an excited Marthe Bøhler. She is acting general secretary for this year’s Norway Cup. Bøhler is looking forward to welcoming 30,000 football-loving children and young people to Ekebergsletta this weekend. – There are a group of volunteers here who are very ready to welcome this year’s participants. We are very much looking forward to that, says Bøhler. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news Just as much, if not more, Sally Jatta and her team from Gambia are looking forward to playing in Norway. Wants to become a pro 16-year-old Sally Jatta likes to play on the pitch in Vikersund. Photo: Stian Haraldsen / news – We are here to win gold, that is our dream. We have come a long way, from Gambia to Norway, it is not an easy journey, says Sally Jatta. Sally and her teammates will play at the Norway Cup for the first time. There is much that is new. Also the substrate. At home, they play on bumpy gravel courts. – It is easier to play football here. We get better ball control and play better together. At home it is very hard, says Sally. Teammate Ngoneh Senneh would like to return to Europe later. – My goal is to become a professional footballer, so that I can help my family, she says. 16-year-old Ngoneh Senneh plays on Sally Jatta’s team. Photo: Stian Haraldsen / news Were you at the Norway Cup in your childhood? Yes, the Norway Cup was the highlight of the summer ☀️⚽ Yes, but I wasn’t there for the football 😉 No, never played football as a child 🚫⚽ Show result Sponsored by organization in Vikersund Chairman Morten Skjelbred in ScanAid smiles as much as the girls at the training facility in Vikersund. Here the team recharges before Sunday’s Norway Cup debut. ScanAid has been running schools in The Gambia, Africa’s smallest country, for over 20 years. Sally and Ngoneh play in the school’s football academy. Skjelbred says that the experiences outside the pitch are also important during the visit to Norway. – They dream of winning, but hope they get many other good experiences as well, and learn about other cultures, says Skjelbred. Chairman Morten Skjelbred of ScanAid accompanies, together with someone from the coaching staff, when the girls’ team trains. Photo: Anders Haualand / news 30 nations are represented – We have 13 teams from Mexico. 12 from the USA and around ten from Germany, says the general secretary for Norway Cup, Marthe Bøhler. A total of 30 nations are represented in this year’s tournament. – It is fun to see that we are back in the form of that breadth of international participation as well. And it means a lot when we can get many representatives from different continents in the world now. Extends beyond Oslo Due to the weather and poor condition of some of the pitches at Ekebergsletta, the fun fair has been moved closer to Ekeberg school. From before, the tournament uses courses around the city, such as Furuset, Voldsløkka and Valle-Hovin. But because some of the pitches on the plain are not in good enough condition, several of the matches have to be played elsewhere in the city. The Tivoli has been a regular feature of Ekebergsletta in recent years. This year it has been moved a little further, so as not to damage the grass. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news – 150 of the matches will be moved to Haraløkka in Bøler and the artificial grass pitch in Manglerud, says Bøhler. But she insists that the Norway Cup will not be bigger than Ekebergsletta. – You won’t get that Norway Cup feeling if we start moving to the other side of town. Published 26/07/2024, at 07.51 Updated 26.07.2024, at 08.10
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A record number of entries for this year’s Norway Cup – Stor-Oslo
