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Take a look at Norway's squad and, on paper, they could be a dark horse for any tournament. With representatives from Barcelona, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Arsenal, among others, and some of the very best players on the planet within their ranks, this is a team that one would expect to be a regular in the knockout stages at major tournaments. Yet, in the words of Caroline Graham Hansen at the 2023 Women's World Cup, Norway "go from championship to championship and underperform".
Those comments from the Barca winger came after Norway had suffered a shock defeat to New Zealand in the opening fixture of that tournament. It was the Football Ferns' first-ever World Cup win. "We can't do anything. Then it's a loss," Graham Hansen added, in one of many short and understandably frustrated answers to NRK.
Drawn alongside New Zealand, Switzerland and the Philippines, Norway were expected to storm out of the group and have themselves a strong tournament for the first time in a while. Instead, they qualified in second and were comfortably beaten by Japan in the last 16.
There are parallels to that World Cup at this summer's European Championship, where Norway will once again, despite recent failures, go into their group as the heavy favourites to finish top. Alongside hosts Switzerland, who have never made it to the knockouts at the Euros; Iceland, who have one win in this competition in their history; and Finland, who haven't progressed to a quarter-final since their home Euros in 2009; this is a big opportunity for a squad boasting players like Graham Hansen and Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg. But will they take it?
