It is already possible here to correct the initial statement. Regardless of the result against Serbia in the group final in the national league, the Norwegian national team has obviously moved up several levels in terms of sporting quality. In the deepest sense, it is the only thing that counts for a football team. But before Ståle Solbakken’s national team had become a sporting power, it had assumed a role that gave importance and status far beyond what they had achieved within the 90 allotted minutes of playing time, namely what Solbakken himself has begun to call their “little campaign”. Which was perhaps not so small after all. The one with the T-shirts. MARKING: The Norwegian national team players marked with T-shirts in the WC qualification. Photo: JORGE GUERRERO / AFP And that hand in the air, which always seemed a little out of place, but which therefore actually made an impression. And should be allowed to continue doing so. Because when the rest of the world is now finally starting to care properly about what is going on in Qatar and the neighboring states, Norway has stopped the commemorations. Football’s humanitarian superpowers Well, they were perhaps just as much self-righteous symbolism as the new, Dutch “One Love” campaign, of which Norway has also become a part. But it seemed genuine and it did something to us. It gave Norway something no one else had, something that gave pride and the feeling of a national team that took us to something significant, no matter how it went purely sportingly. We had a national team that understood the opportunity it had to use the attention the matches gave them to show the world that football also has its inherent humanitarian superpowers. But then it was over. Because it certainly cost internally. And not least because the whole thing became football politics. ON AND OFF THE FIELD: The national team also marked with large banners, with the inscription “Make the changes count. Human rights on and off the pitch”. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB Politics became politics The new football president Lise Klaveness took the fight to sport’s biggest stage, namely the FIFA Congress in Qatar. And spoke an ignorant, discriminatory world in the face. From there there was no way back to the T-shirts, which Ståle Solbakken had poetically printed in a side street in Hamar before he went out into the world to lead Norway in international matches. And no banners should unite the national team behind a higher goal than winning the upcoming football match. Because everything political had become politics. And it is in these political spheres that the real changes can happen, we are told – also when it comes to football. No one should doubt the persistent work Lise Klaveness has done and is doing to actually influence the way FIFA thinks and acts. But the windmills she fights against are gigantic. The perfect symbiosis of rottenness and cynicism Back stands – and not least sits – a national team manager who seems equally committed and well-articulated, but who withdraws further and further from all discussions about what was the tab issue during his first qualifying round as national team manager. The one where Norway lost to Turkey and the Netherlands and never made it to the WC in Qatar. LOSS: Martin Ødegaard (th) and Norway fell short in World Cup qualification. Photo: JOHN THYS / AFP But still, they were the first to really tell the world that the emperor’s new football kits did not exist. Top football is more rotten and cynical than ever, and any attempt to camouflage it is just pure obfuscation. And nowhere has one seen a more perfect symbiosis of these qualities than in the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar – from start to finish that can’t come soon enough. With less than two months to go until the start of the World Cup, the wider world has also begun to heat up the wheels of conscience. The limits of reasonableness This is reflected in campaigns such as the aforementioned “One Love”, where the captain’s armbands of the participating national teams have been replaced with rainbow-coloured ones, as an expression of diversity and against discrimination. FARGERIK: Ødegaard with the captain’s armband for the “One Love” campaign. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB The captains of eight European countries will wear the ribbon on their arm through a championship held in a country where homosexuals are persecuted and imprisoned. The measure is commendable, but unfortunately not enough for one to believe it has any particular effect. Because there are still far too many nations, including Serbia, that will not take part in the campaign. And there are far too many places where people simply do not care about how human rights are practiced in Qatar. Or what FIFA is doing to change this. But there is no longer any point in looking to Norway for signs of what is wrong. Because they have done “everything they can do within reason”, as Solbakken put it last week. The world’s best sports washer Instead, our national team has received its well-deserved attention due to the uniqueness of an attacking player. Erling Braut Haaland plays for Manchester City, which is owned by the United Arab Emirates, for those of you who haven’t caught on yet. It has been mentioned a number of times. Erling Braut Haaland is currently the world’s most effective sports washer. TRAINING: Haaland on his way out to national team training at Ullevaal. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB And he is simply doing the job he is paid for, namely scoring goals. This is what sports washing is all about. Making the product so fascinating to look at that you forget why someone has invested billions of kroner in it. Nothing is more fascinating in football than players like Haaland or the French star forward Kylian Mbappé, who scores with almost as impressive naturalness for his club, Qatar-owned PSG. – Something significant has been lost Therefore, the questions also come from domestic journalists, when Haaland represents his country. Which he thankfully continues to do. While a pressured national team manager Solbakken has to spend more and more energy defending his jewel. And through that withdrawing step by step away from what he really wanted to convey when he started as national team manager two years ago. THE STARS AND THE BOSS: Haaland and Solbakken. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB Erling Braut Haaland has gone to Manchester City. And the Norwegian national team no longer marks against human rights violations on the Arabian Peninsula. Something essential is lost. No matter how happy it may make former Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who was the one who received the most attention for expressing that the markings had played their role last autumn. Solberg wanted people to cheer for the team now. And got his way. On the pitch, Norway and Haaland and Ødegaard and the nation’s other hopes can still give us pride. But when it comes to the fight for human rights “on and off the pitch”, as it said on the T-shirts, it is now just off.
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The big miss of the small campaign for the national team – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
