How Norway's artificial turf and coaching overhaul built a World Cup

Norway, a country with a population roughly the size of Scotland, has emerged as a football powerhouse at the World Cup. While Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, with seven goals in the tournament, and Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard are the most prominent faces, the nation's success is rooted in a broader youth development system.

Of Norway's 26-man World Cup squad, 17 play in Europe's top four leagues: the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A. The majority were trained in the National Team School (NTS), established in 2013. The comparison with Scotland is stark: both nations missed the World Cup for 28 years after 1998, but while Scotland failed to advance past the group stage in 2026, Norway will face England in the quarter-finals after defeating Ivory Coast and Brazil in the knockout phase.

Two decades of planning

Hakon Grottland, head of player development at the Norwegian Football Federation, said the current success is the result of more than 20 years of planning. "When I started with the football federation in 2010, it was my dream that Norway could compete at the World Cup because we had too many years of talking about 1998," he told BBC Sport.

Grottland attributed the transformation to two main factors: an investment in artificial pitches between 2000 and 2010, and a coaching revolution sparked by the NTS.

Artificial pitches extend the season

Since 2000, Norway has invested heavily in artificial turf. Between 2016 and 2025, 539 new pitches were built and 586 renovated. For a country with harsh winters, this was transformative. "Football in Norway went from a summer sport to a whole year-round sport," Grottland explained. "Back in my day, we had to play on horrible pitches in the winter, on ice and things like that."

The shift to predictable surfaces has encouraged a more technical style, epitomized by Odegaard, 27. "It's partly about artificial pitches, but it's also about influences," Grottland added. "Everyone wanted something a little bit different. But now, this has gone too far because we don't create enough defenders."

Coaching revolution and the National Team School

After failing to qualify for Euro 2012, the Norwegian Football Federation established the NTS in 2013. Grottland described a "revolution" from 2010 to 2020, "where Norwegian football, the top clubs, the federations and the districts started to invest heavily in player development."

Funding from gambling proceeds

Norway is one of the world's richest countries, with oil reserves and an economy per capita nearly twice that of the UK and larger than the US. A unique funding source is gambling revenue. Betting is strictly regulated, and the state-owned operator Norsk Tipping donates 64% of its proceeds to sports, primarily facilities. In 2026, Norsk Tipping generated over 2 billion Norwegian kroner (£152.7 million) for sports facilities.

As Norway prepares to face England, the question remains whether Scotland can learn from its Nordic counterpart's approach.