The Norway World Cup dream is on the verge of being fulfilled after they coasted to a huge 5-0 win over Israel in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday, October 12. Erling Haaland scored yet another hat-trick to help the Norwegians maintain a perfect record with 18 points from six matches.
Moreover, Norway have managed to score a very impressive 29 goals in six qualifying matches so far, which is the highest tally achieved by a European team.
Norway and England are the only two teams with a perfect record after playing five or more matches in the World Cup qualifiers this time around. The Norwegians last qualified for the World Cup in 1998 and look set to repeat the act 27 years later.
Norway World Cup Dream Fueled by Erling Haaland’s Outrageous Form
Haaland, who has scored 12 goals in nine matches for Manchester City in club football already this season, cannot stop scoring for his country as well. The 25-year-old striker has scored a whopping 13 goals in only seven matches for Norway this year so far.
The big striker became the quickest to score 50 goals for his national team when he achieved the feat in only 46 matches by scoring his second goal against Israel. To put things in perspective, Harry Kane took 71 matches for England to reach the milestone of 50 goals.
Haaland thus continues to have a legitimate claim to being the most prolific striker in world football in recent times, but he is not all that Norwegian football can boast of.
They have players like Martin Odegaard and Oscar Bobb in their team as well. Odegaard is injured at the moment and did not play against Israel, but continues to be one of the most influential No. 10s in world football at the moment.
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Next Couple of Matches Might See Norway Qualify
Norway will play against Estonia and Italy within the space of four days in November in their next World Cup qualifiers. Getting four more points out of those two matches will see them through to the World Cup.
That is well within their reach, and with the kind of form Haaland is enjoying, they might even succeed in beating Italy away from home.
Norwegian football had stars like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Tore Andre Flo in the late 1990s, when they qualified for the World Cup in France. They even managed to beat the very strong Brazilian team in that tournament. The current team might be no less strong than that one, actually.
Should they manage to top their group in the World Cup qualifiers, it will give them a huge boost in confidence ahead of the quadrennial tournament. Sweden, another Scandinavian country which regularly qualifies for the World Cup and European Championships, are finding the going tough this time around and might eventually fail to qualify.
One can hope that Norway manages to compensate for their neighbours next year. Denmark, another Scandinavian nation, might be able to qualify for the tournament, however.
Football neutrals will hope that the Norway World Cup dream is realised to give the likes of Haaland and Odegaard a taste of playing in a major international tournament.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / NTB
Recording Date: 10.10.2025