– Now that I’m hanging up, I dare to speak a little louder. That what happened was unfair. And I felt the way it was done was extremely unpleasant. Andrine Hegerberg says so in an exclusive interview with news. The Brann player confirmed on Monday that she is retiring as a footballer after the season. Now she is coming to terms with what happened on the national team in 2017 – and the time after. – I was removed Hegerberg, who at the time played in Birmingham, got only one game for Norway in the soccer European Championship in the Netherlands. The championship was a big failure for Norway, and afterwards it became known that there was a bad atmosphere, arguments and drama behind the scenes. The climax came when Andrine’s sister Ada Hegerberg joined the national team soon after. At the same time, the football European Championship in 2017 was Andrine Hegerberg’s last championship for Norway. She hasn’t played with the flag on her chest since. – I had played all the way up to the EC, and will not be selected next time. Not even in the squad. I participated in the evaluation of the EC, but was removed from the email group entirely. I was removed from all info. A joint email went out to virtually all Norwegian players, where Ada and I were removed, says Hegerberg about the time after the turbulent championship. – To this day, I have not seen the evaluation of that championship, even though I was part of it. FORMER MANAGER: Martin Sjögren was national team coach for Andrine Hegerberg during the European Championships in 2017. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Does not want to comment on the Hegerberg statements Hegerberg believes she was more than good enough for the national team. She had played in several cup finals for Birmingham and felt she delivered the goods for the club team. news has submitted the criticism from Hegerberg to then national team manager Martin Sjögren and the Norwegian Football Association (NFF). Sjögren does not want to comment on Hegerberg’s allegations, while the NFF refers to the fact that the conflict in and around the European Championship in 2017 has been commented on a number of times by Sjögren and the NFF – also to news. – Andrine Hegerberg has her own experience of it, and we respect that. Beyond that, the NFF does not wish to comment on this matter, writes Yngve Haavik, who is head of communications at the NFF, in an e-mail to news. The then national team manager Martin Sjögren confirmed in 2019 that it was a “personnel issue” that led Hegerberg to the national team’s cold. But Sjögren claimed that this only played a role until he and Hegerberg spoke in September 2017. He then considered other players to be better. – Personal attack In the book of mother Gerd Stolsmo, published in 2019, she writes that her daughter was accused of breaking the rules during the football European Championship in 2017. “The national team coach claimed that, through a 100 percent reliable source, they had heard that she repeatedly was observed at night together with an employee from TV 2.” Andrine Hegerberg is said to have denied this. Stolsmo writes that the daughter instead met an acquaintance on TV 2 on the night Norway was eliminated from the European Championship, but that she had observed the rule of silence by 11 pm all other evenings. She describes the time as “the toughest period of my career”. – I had a “shaky period”, because I think it was disgusting to be removed, but another thing was the way it was done. I felt that it was a more personal attack, says Andrine Hegerberg, who adds that she does not recognize alleged violations of the rules. Hegerberg believes the national team conflict also affected her club career. She claims, among other things, that she was called into the coach’s office when she later played for the big club PSG. STAR CLUB: Andrine Hegerberg has played for a number of big clubs. Here she is pictured (right) from her time at PSG. Photo: STEFAN JERREVANG / AFP There she was allegedly asked why the national team coaches did not follow her up in Paris. – Do you think that the national team conflict ruined your career at PSG? – It’s hard to say, but I got considerably less playing time after that. I was told that it was difficult for the coach. I found it to be a fairly neat conversation. The message was that my competitors were going to a championship. I had to go to a championship if I could continue to keep my place, she says. Feeling stepped on, the Brann player believes that she was punished in the national team context for “standing up for herself and others” – and for using her voice. – For my part, it was tough. I felt very alone. I felt a little stepped on. I felt that I had stood up for myself and others, she says. Although her national team career was shorter and more turbulent than she hoped for, the 31-year-old has learned a lot from what has happened. – This career has been tough. It has been incredibly rewarding and incredibly fun. It is one thing to become a good footballer, what is required of oneself. You learn a lot from that. But then there is also the personal aspect of it all, she says and adds: – All the so-called ups and downs… I almost don’t know what is up and what is down anymore, because all experiences have made me feel me incredibly scared. I feel incredibly strong. Published 24.09.2024, at 11.26 Updated 24.09.2024, at 11.34
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