Norwegian sports is on an incredible high, with the country topping the medals table at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Magnus Carlsen winning multiple global chess championships and the men’s national football team qualifiying for the FIFA World Cup™ in dominant fashion.
Norway’s return to a major championship for the first time since 1998 has served to inspire the country’s athletes, including top tennis star Casper Ruud. At the FIFA World Cup 2026™, the Scandinavian country have been drawn in Group I alongside France, Senegal and the winner of the FIFA Play-Off Tournament Pathway 2, which is one of Bolivia, Iraq and Suriname.
The three-time Grand Slam finalist, who has been ranked as high as No2 in the world, is a huge fan of both Liverpool and the Norwegian national team. At this week’s Delray Beach Open in South Florida, the 27-year-old spoke to FIFA about the rise of Norwegian sports, his World Cup memories and hopes to attend the global showpiece after Wimbledon.
Casper Ruud: It means a lot. For me, as a spectator and fan watching on the sidelines, it was really fun to see them qualify. To have them on the biggest stage this summer in the States will be awesome. I hope they do well and win some matches and show that it’s not just a one-hit wonder or one-time lucky. I think that the future looks great for Norwegian football. We have a young, strong team who seem to enjoy playing with each other. We also have a few big superstars on the team and if they can connect, I think they have a chance to beat anybody.
For sure. It shows that you don’t have to be a huge sports country or have only one main sport that is in the culture so other sports can do well aside from the Winter Olympics and football. We also have golf, tennis, women’s football always does well in Norway, we have a lot of good things in the Summer Olympics… we get gold medals in track and field… so you name it, it has been a really fun couple of years to be a Norwegian.
I haven’t experienced the team being deep in the qualifying stages in the past, they have somewhere along the line messed up or not been even close to qualifying. But the last couple of years, I have really put an effort into watching most of the matches of the national team. The biggest difference now is you see every player on the team is playing for a big European or international team so they have playing experience.
Back in the day you would have John Carew or John Arne Riise playing for Aston Villa or Liverpool and you would have six or seven other guys who were playing in the local Norwegian league. They would take on these bigger teams and maybe they didn’t feel comfortable. You see all the players now, from defence to offence, comfortable with the ball. They are not stressed or nervous and they play good football. It shows that the sport is growing and growing and we have a lot of good players that are playing in major leagues around the world.
Luckily, I think you can qualify as the third place team if you have a good [record]. But Senegal just won the African Cup of Nations and France have had a pretty good record in the World Cup in the past couple of years! I think it is a good challenge for them and the first of many major championships for Norway in the next 10-12 years if the players keep going in this direction and give their best to the national team.
The one in South Africa was special, I was 11 or 12 at the time. I love the song that Shakira made for the [2010] World Cup and Spain won for the first time. It was a great one that I really remember. Of course, the final in Qatar [2022] was incredible and is something that I will remember for a long time as well.
It is during Wimbledon for us so it’s kind of difficult for us to skip Wimbledon to watch the World Cup so we’ll see. But if Norway make it far, we might be able to sneak in a game after Wimbledon. We do make our way to North America in the summer so if there’s a chance, I’d love to attend a match.
