Erling Haaland edging closer to a first World Cup with Norway

It’s been 26 years since Norway qualified for the World Cup, with their last-16 defeat to Italy in 1998 the last match that the nation has played in the tournament.

Failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup made it six tournaments on the bounce in which the Norwegians came up short, when even Erling Haaland’s five goals in the qualification campaign were unable to fire them to Qatar.

While the Manchester City man is only 24 years old, he will be keenly aware that he is starting to feature in those ‘best player never to play in a World Cup’ conversations that we’ve all had in the pub. So how close are Norway to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup that will be played in the USA, Canada and Mexico? FourFourTwo takes a closer look…

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How does qualification for the 2026 World Cup work?

The start of the Nations League in the current international break has marked the beginning of the World Cup qualification cycle. This means that qualifying for the World Cup isn’t as simple as it used to be, while the expansion to 48 teams has also moved the goalposts somewhat.

UEFA will have 16 spots at the 2026 World Cup, an increase of three teams, which obviously boosts Norway’s hopes of qualifying.

The European qualification process will see 12 groups of four or five teams draw together later this year (the date is still to be confirmed), who will then play each other home and away, with the 12 group winners booking their place in the tournament.

A second phase of qualifying for the remaining four spots sees 16 teams (made up of the 12 group runners-up, plus the four best Nations League group winners based on the Nations League overall ranking that finished outside of the top two in their World Cup qualification group) drawn into four paths, which will see two rounds of single-match play-offs, with the four path winners qualifying for the World Cup.

How close are Norway to qualifying for the World Cup?

In terms of where this leaves Norway, Stale Solbakken’s side are currently two matches into their Nations League campaign, knowing that if they can top their group, it will give them a second chance when the World Cup qualifcation campaign begins in earnest next March.

Haaland scored an 80th minute winner against Austria on Monday evening, to move the team onto four points following their draw in Kazakhstan on Friday night. That means Norway second, level on points with leaders Slovenia in League B Group 3.

So who are the best players never to play in a World Cup?

Since we mentioned it earlier, it’s worth revisiting that age-old debate.

Despite representing both Argentina and Spain, Alfredo Di Stefano never made it to the World Cup thanks to a combination of player strikes, failure to qualify and injury. George Best and Ryan Giggs are the biggest British names never to feature, while George Weah, the first African player to win the Ballon d’Or never made it with Liberia. Eric Cantona is another noticeable absentee,

Going further back, Sweden’s Gunnar Nordahl never featured, Italy’s Valentino Mazzola who was tragically killed at the age of 30 in the Superga air disaster never graced the tournament, while Laszlo Kubala played for Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Spain (the rules on switching allegiances were a lot less strict back then), but never got the chance at a World Cup.

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