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Associated Press
a day ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Euro 2025: Norway stars Hegerberg and Graham Hansen return for first quarterfinal in 12 years
GENEVA (AP) — They were star prospects aged 18 when Norway last played in the quarterfinals at the Women's European Championship. Now 12 years on, Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen — a Ballon d'Or winner and a runner-up in the voting, respectively — are team leaders for Norway's first game in the knockout rounds since Euro 2013, against Italy on Wednesday. 'People expect things from us now,' Graham Hansen acknowledged Tuesday, calling their situation today a 'complete difference.' 'We were like 18 and nobody expected nothing from us. We also just wanted to show what we could contribute at the time,' she said while sitting alongside Hegerberg. 'I wasn't playing with much pressure at all (in 2013),' said Graham Hansen, who started in the final that Norway lost 1-0 to Germany. 'I was just going for it.' Graham Hansen and Hegerberg have combined to score 102 national-team goals, and the first of those at a major tournament was in that quarterfinal game in 2013 in Sweden. Hegerberg got Norway's third in a 3-1 win over Spain with a curling shot that went in off a post. Both have added one goal each in Switzerland this month to help Norway sweep the group stage with three victories. Hansen's crafty 84th-minute goal sealed a 2-1 win over Finland and sent Norway into the last eight with a game to spare. 'The start couldn't be any better,' Hegerberg said in translated comments. 'We can enjoy that we have such a strong position.' A new generation also is emerging, and one highly rated prospect made her mark when Norway was already sure to top its group that included Switzerland and rested both standout forwards. Signe Gaupset, who turned 20 last month, scored twice early in a 4-3 win over Iceland on Thursday. She was youngest player in the tournament's 41-year history to do that and later added two assists for Frida Maanum's goals. 'She's young, and that is additional motivation to take the opportunities you get,' Graham Hansen said of Gaupset, as if describing her younger self. 'She's a big talent.' Norway coach Gemma Grainger said Gaupset's performance 'wasn't much of a surprise to any of us' though would not be drawn if the Brann winger will retain her place on the left flank to face Italy. The winner Wednesday in Geneva will return to the city next Tuesday for a semifinal against either Sweden or England. ___ AP soccer:
Forbes
6 days ago
- Sport
- Forbes
Path Opens Up For Norway To Progress At UEFA Women's Euro
THUN, SWITZERLAND - JULY 09: The players of Norway pose for a photo prior to the Norway Training ... More Session And Press Conference ahead of the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Group A match between Norway and Iceland at Arena Thun on July 09, 2025 in Thun, Switzerland. (Photo by Chris Ricco - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images) Former European champions Norway go into tonight's final group game against Iceland at the UEFA Women's Euro with the pressure off as they eye a path into the knockout stages. With two wins from their opening two matches, the Norwegians are guaranteed to win Group A ahead of Switzerland, Finland and the already-eliminated Iceland. Knowing they will play their quarter-final next Wednesday in Geneva, they are likely to avoid world champions Spain, who will win Group B barring an unlikely defeat to Italy tomorrow. This means Norway will take on either Italy or Portugal for a place in tbe last four. Should they reach the semi-finals, it will be the Scandianavians best performance at a major tournament in twelve years, since they reached the final of the UEFA Women's Euro in 2013. Then, Ada Hegerberg was 18 years of age, the young star of the team. Today the first-ever woman to win the Ballon D'Or turns 30, having never fulfilled her potential at a major international tournament. Eliminated in the group stage of the two subsequent editions of the UEFA Women's Euro in 2017 and 2022, Hegeberg was part of the team that suffered a humiliating 8-0 trouncing by England three years ago. Norway also suffered defeat in the first knockout rounds of the 2015 and 2023 FIFA Women's World Cups. KALMAR, SWEDEN - JULY 22: Ada Hegerberg (#21) of Norway celebrates after she scores her team's 3rd ... More goal during the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 quarter final match between Norway and Spain at Kalmar Arena on July 22, 2013 in Kalmar, Sweden. (Photo by) Indeed, the all-time record goalscorer in the UEFA Women's Champions League, had failed to find the net for her country at a major tournament since 2015. That was until Hegerberg bravely headed Norway level during their opening game against hosts Switzerland. It was her 50th goal for the national team. More importantly, Hegerberg's goal turned her country's fortunes around as they almost immediately took the lead after an indifferent first half performance in Basel. They followed up that victory with another 2-1 win over Finland to secure their quarter-final place with a game to spare. Norway's forward #14 Ada Hegerberg (Top) score a goal during the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 Group A ... More football match between Switzerland and Norway at the St Jakob-Park Stadium in Basel on July 2, 2025. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images) Norway's form, however, has been far from impressive in what has been a kind group stage for them. Hegerberg missed a penalty in the win over Switzerland and the team have scrapped through both games thanks to the goals and assists of FC Barcelona's Caroline Graham Hansen which have elicited two own goals. With nothing at stake during their final group match against Iceland tonight, head coach Gemma Grainger has hinted she may rotate the team tonight to save the legs of some of her leading players. That may include Hegerberg, who could be rested on her birthday. The Manchester United trio of Lisa Naalsund, Celin Bizet and Elisabeth Terland could all potentially come in, as well as young SK Brann starlet Signe Gaupset. Terland in particular can count herself unfortunate not to have played more than 15 minutes after a season in which she scored ten times for Manchester United and provided five assists. Ahead of the game, Grainger said yesterday 'we have a really strong squad. The first day we met, we talked about the importance of every player in the team. We have, a highly-competitive group. We'll take a look at what we think is best for the team tomorrow. We won't make any indication of what that will be just at the moment but, of course, it's about what is best for the next game. We plan to utilise all of the squad. Whether that will be tomorrow, you'll have to wait and see.' Before the tournament, Hegergerg said that a place in the quarter-finals would be her ideal birthday present. Between 2017 and 2022, Hegerberg withdrew herself from selection for the national team citing a lack of commitment from the Norwegian federation in the women's team, a situation which she said left her 'broken mentally.' Now as the new captain of the national side, succeeding Maren Mjelde, she understands how important it is to make every member of tbe squad feel valued. 'I think it's important in a group to create as much trust as possible between the players, between the staff, in order to have a healthy environment where people feel they can be themselves, 100%.' 'I mean, sports are a tough thing, you demand a lot from yourself, you demand a lot from the environment, and there's going to tough situations. The more trust you have among your team-mates, among your staff, from your coach, the easier it is to stand tall in the tough moments as well. To feel like you're a collective, to fell that you're a team.' 'That's something that I bear in mind all the time when I'm in this group, is that everyone is feeling that they're seen. I think to be able to be seen, is something incredible. That every individual knows they're role, knows how they can contribute." 'We talk a lot about the eleven playing and maybe those who come in and out but you have a group of 23 players who all play their role in something that's going to be, hopefully, a long tournament and you're going to count on everyone. So having trust, having a safe ground where people feel they can contribute is something essential to me.'
CNA
06-07-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Graham Hansen strikes late as Norway beat Finland 2-1
SION, Switzerland :A late solo strike by Norway forward Caroline Graham Hansen secured a 2-1 victory against Finland in the Women's European Championship on Sunday, as the twice champions took a big step towards qualifying for the quarter-finals. Norway's second Group A win put them top of the standings with six points. Finland, who defeated Iceland in their opening game, remained on three. "We buzzed our way to three points in one way or another, but that's what counts in championships. There's a bit to work with, but we won, it helps," player of the match Graham Hansen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Eva Nystrom's own goal put Norway ahead after three minutes as Graham Hansen's cross into the goalmouth hit the Finland defender and slid into the net. The Norwegians were unlucky not to score again when they hit the woodwork twice within a minute, Ingrid Syrstad Engen's close-range header striking the crossbar before Finland goalkeeper Anna Koivunen tipped Vilde Boe Risa's corner onto the post. Finland equalised in the 32nd minute when midfielder Oona Siren found forward Oona Sevenius with a precise through ball. Sevenius hammered a left-foot shot into the top right corner to score her first international goal for over a year. Graham Hansen stepped up to seal the win in the 84th minute, fooling two defenders with quick dribbling as she moved in from the right and dispatched a shot in off the far post. "When she performs like she did for that goal, not many people are able to do that. Getting her in the most amount of one-on-one situations is something we want," Syrstad Engen told newspaper VG. Norway, who beat Switzerland in their opening game, could have a place in the quarter-finals confirmed if the hosts beat Iceland later on Sunday, or if the match ends in a draw. Finland coach Marko Saloranta said his team did not deserve to lose. "I am very proud of how we played, it feels extremely bad," he said.
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Switzerland v Norway: Women's Euro 2025
Update: Date: 2025-07-02T18:03:01.000Z Title: The teams Content: Switzerland: Peng, Beney, Calligaris, Stierli, Maritz, Riesen, Ivelj, Walti, Vallotto, Reuteler, Herzog, Wandeler, Crnogorcevic, Terchoun, Sow, Balleste, Mauron, Folmli, Pilgrim, Schertenleib, Lehmann, Bohi. Norway: Fiskerstrand, Bjelde, Mjelde, Tuva Hansen, Lund, Risa, Caroline Hansen, Engen, Maanum, Hegerberg, Panengstuen, Woldvik, Ostenstad, Saevik, Kielland, Harviken, Ildhusoy, Terland, Jensen, Naalsund, Gaupset, Mikalsen. Referee: Alina Pesu (Romania). Update: Date: 2025-07-02T18:00:07.000Z Title: Preamble Content: The hosts take on a sleeping giant in Basel. Switzerland don't have much of a record at the Euros: they've only qualified twice before, in 2017 and 2022, failing to get out of the groups on both occasions. Norway on the other hand are past masters: champions in 1987 and 1993, and runners-up four other times. But the word past is instructive there: Norway, erstwhile World and Olympic champions as well, aren't the force they once were, having failed to get through the groups at the last two Euros – remember that 8-0 defeat to England three years ago? – and falling to their current Fifa ranking of 16th in the world, the joint-lowest mark in their history. So while Switzerland, ranked 23rd, may be very much second best historically, there's not so much of a gap between the countries right now. Having said all that, Norway will still fancy their chances this afternoon. They've beaten Switzerland twice already this year, in the Nations League, while the Swiss are six without a win in competitive matches. The hosts, who are without the injury-stricken Ramona Bachmann, will look to Arsenal midfielder Lia Wälti for inspiration; Norway have plenty of star power up front in Caroline Graham Hansen and Ada Hegerberg. Can the hosts get off on the good foot, or will Norway rediscover their mojo? Kick-off is at 8pm UK time. It's on!
