Football, sports | And the national team manager said of Norway’s World Cup draw:

This became clear after the European Football Association (UEFA) organized the World Cup qualifying draw in the qualifiers that took place in Australia and New Zealand on Friday.

Fifty-one countries participated in the lottery and were divided into nine groups. Six of the groups consist of six teams, the other three of five.

Norway took first place in the lottery, along with the Netherlands, Germany, England, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy and Denmark.

If we look at the two toughest opponents, Belgium and Poland, I think we have a very heavy draw, as Martin Segren, head of the national team at NTB, said.

Players in big clubs

Sjögren’s Norwegian crew were drawn against Belgium from level 2. Norway beat Belgium 2-0 in an international training session earlier this month. When the two teams met in the 2017 European Championship qualifiers, the game ended in a 0-2 loss for the Norwegian.

Belgium are ready for the European Championship play-offs next summer, which scores a good score. In that sense, it was a draw. Sjögren says since we met them in March our mention is so fresh.

From the third level, Poland became the rival. Norway have only met the team twice before. In the Algarve Championship in 2019 and in the European Championship qualifiers in 2008, Norway won 3-0.

Poland has more and more players in the best European clubs, and it is also a good opponent. It is likely that the squad will be decided in matches between the three teams mentioned, Sjögren says.

Insignificant papers

Next come Albania, Kosovo and Armenia at levels 4, 5 and 6. The Norwegian national coach doesn’t know much about it.

Norway also met Albania in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. They won 11-0 and 7-0 in both matches. These are the only team meetings to date.

Kosovo and Armenia new acquaintances from the Norwegian team.

The nine group winners qualify directly for the World Cup. The number two in the group will go to the second chance, where two other teams will advance to the play-offs.

Qualification begins in the fall. Europe took more places in the World Cup final in 2023 than in the previous World Cup.

The United States is the world champions. The Netherlands suffered a 2-0 defeat in the final in France.

(© NTB)