King Harald V announced Norway’s 26-player World Cup squad on Thursday, May 21, 2026, and among the names was Sondre Langas of Derby County, a surprise inclusion in a squad revealed by the monarch himself.
The roster marks Norway’s return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998 and carries weight beyond a ceremonial announcement: the team is ranked No. 31 in the FIFA standings and includes high-profile attackers Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard, as well as seven players who ply their trade in the Premier League. Norway will open its group stage against Iraq on June 16 in Boston, meet Senegal at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on June 22, and close the group against France on June 26 back in Boston.
Manager Stale Solbakken framed his selection around cohesion. "The heart of this group has been good together both on and off the field. So it is true that football is fresh, and we have to keep that in mind. But I think that we have landed on something that can be good," he said, stressing that the balance of personalities and form informed the final choices.
The squad lists three strikers, including Jorgen Strand Larsen of Crystal Palace alongside Haaland and others up front. Solbakken’s team also draws on Premier League experience from players such as Martin Odegaard, Sander Berge, Oscar Bobb, Kristoffer Ajer and David Moller Wolfe, a concentration of top‑flight minutes that the coach will count on when Norway faces France and Senegal in a compact June schedule.
The announcement carried a sting: Solbakken acknowledged the human cost of trimming the list. "It could have been with those who didn’t make it too, and that’s the bad thing about this. That you have to disappoint someone," he said, a direct recognition that names left off the plane are part of the story as much as those who flew.
One notable omission was Eivind Helland, who did not make the final 26. Helland had made six appearances since his January signing for Bologna, a recent run that nevertheless fell short of selection for the tournament squad.
The circumstances of the announcement were unusual. An 89-year-old King Harald V publicly read the squad and wished the team luck, a departure from the more run-of-the-mill federation press conference. Norway’s last World Cup campaign ended in 1998 with a round-of-16 exit at the hands of Italy; Italy had eliminated Norway from three straight World Cups previously, a historical note that underlines how long it has been since Norway featured on football’s biggest stage.
Solbakken signaled the immediate next phase plainly: preparation on foreign soil. "I am most looking forward to getting on the plane and getting our daily routines in place over there so that we can perfect the mental, physical and tactical aspects before it all starts," he said, setting a timetable for the team’s arrival and final tuning ahead of the June fixtures.
For Langas, the inclusion is a personal breakthrough and a tangible reminder of how selection debates cut both ways. For Norway, the question sharpened by this squad is concrete: can a team built around a handful of Premier League talents and marquee forwards translate club form into results in a short, punishing group that includes France and Senegal? How Norway answers that in Boston and at MetLife will determine whether this return to the World Cup becomes a moment or a memory.
