Exclusive: Erling Braut Haaland - Good times are coming for Norway’s young talents

It doesn’t matter the size of a country, when it comes to football anything is possible. If the structure and facilities are in place then any country can dream of the fabled ‘golden generation’.

Don’t believe us? Just ask fans of Denmark, Romania or Croatia, or maybe Chile or Uruguay perhaps.

Now it looks as if it might be Norway’s turn. With Euro 2020 delayed to 2021 due to coronavirus it’s hard to look past Norway as the obvious dark horse for the tournament.

Kristoffer Ajer is shining for Celtic, Sander Berge is now Sheffield United’s record-signing and Martin Odegaard is finally living up to the hype with Real Sociedad. And of course, leading the line will be Erling Haaland, the teenage sensation who has made the 2019-20 season his own.

In the final part of his exclusive conversation with Eurosport Norway, Haaland was asked by host Gunnhild Toldnes about being a part of this wave of Norwegian talent.

“It’s wonderful.” Haaland replied.

“Sander Berge is playing in Premier League, [Kristoffer] Ajer has been playing in Scotland for some years now, so we’ve got good talent but we’ve also got good football players, we can’t forget that.

“I think that Norway has a lot of good years ahead, I know we have good years ahead, I’m sure of that, and now we have to show that for the national team as well, for our country.”

Haaland was joined on the show by Eurosport Norway commentator Kenneth Fredheim and former manager and current expert Tor Ole Skullerud, two men who remember well the last strong period for Norwegian football in the 1990s.

“I can very well remember how it was being a Norwegian and qualify for big championships.” Skullerud said.

“We haven’t qualified too many times, but we managed to do it a few times in the 90s and I was young and really loved football, and that feeling of having the National team in the world championships and win matches, to experience that was pure joy.

“Norway deserves to have a national team with international success now, they just have to qualify now, that is enough for us, for them to just qualify. So that we can experience that feeling again, and now this relies on a generation that wasn’t even born the last time we were in the European Championship in Belgium.”

“We can genuinely hope and believe in having a national team that can be up there and play well internationally.” Fredheim added.

“The level changes all the time, but this generation of players now, it is so much fun. I was lucky enough to be a reporter at National team games in the 90’s where we were in the world championships and now I kind of get the feeling that this young generation of talented players can really achieve something big now.”

As for Haaland?

“Yes, I’m ready,” the teenager says. “There is nothing more fun than to play for your country, that is one of the biggest achievements and I really hope that I get to experience a championship with the national team.

“Everyone that loves the Norwegian national team deserves to experience that. We know how many football supporters there are in Norway and they really deserve that.”