Norway

Norway's performances in international football have usually been weaker than those of their Scandinavian neighbours Sweden and Denmark, but they did have a golden age in the late 1930s. An Olympic team achieved third place in the 1936 Summer Olympics, after beating hosts Germany earlier in the tournament. Norway also qualified for the 1938 FIFA World Cup, where they lost 2–1 after extra time against eventual champions Italy. This was Norway's last World Cup appearance for 56 years.

In the post-war years, up to and including the 1980s, Norway was usually considered one of the weaker teams in Europe.^[] They never qualified for a World Cup or European Championship during this period, usually finishing near the bottom of their qualifying group. Despite this, Norway achieved victories such as a 3–0 win against Yugoslavia in 1965, a 1–0 away win against France in 1968, and a 2–1 victory against England in 1981 that prompted radio commentator Bjørge Lillelien's famous "Your boys took a hell of a beating" rant.

Norway had their most successful period from 1990 to 1998 under the legendary coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen, with the team once being ranked No. 2. Olsen started his training career with Norway with a 6–1 home victory against Cameroon on 31 October 1990. In qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, Norway topped their group, finishing above the Netherlands, and also above former World Cup winners England, beating both teams in the process. During the finals in the United States, Norway was knocked out in the group stage after a win against Mexico, a defeat against Italy and a draw against the Republic of Ireland. Norway failed to qualify for the round of 16 as all four teams in the group finished with four points and identical goal difference.

At the 1998 World Cup in France, Norway was once again eliminated by Italy in the first round of the knockout stage after finishing second in their group, having drawn against Morocco and Scotland and winning 2–1 against Brazil.

Former under-21 coach Nils Johan Semb replaced Olsen after the latter's retirement. Under Semb's guidance, Norway qualified for Euro 2000, their last major tournament appearance to date. Semb resigned at the end of an unsuccessful qualifying campaign in 2003 and was replaced by Åge Hareide. Under Hareide, Norway came close to reaching both the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008, but ultimately fell short on both occasions. Norway then failed to win a single game in the entirety of 2008, with Hareide resigning at the end of the year. His replacement, initially on a temporary basis, was Olsen, who began his second spell in charge with an away win against Germany, and subsequently signed a three-year contract. Olsen resigned in September 2013 after Norway lost at home to Switzerland and had limited chances to qualify for the 2014 World Cup with one game to spare. He was replaced with Per-Mathias Høgmo. Olsen later claimed he was sacked.