Norway vs Israel was months in the planning for authorities, but politics seeped through

On the eve of Norway hosting Israel, it had been the wish of the visiting captain Eli Dasa that the international gaze could be drawn back to the matter of World Cup qualification in Oslo.

“Football should not involve politics,” Dasa told reporters in a pre-match press conference. “Never. It doesn’t matter if it’s Israel or another country. Football needs to use the power it has to unite people.”

Israel’s travelling supporters, numbering roughly 100, inside the Ullevaal Stadion on Saturday evening, had similar hopes. “Let the ball talk!” said a banner held up as the two teams emerged.

At the opposite end of the ground, though, those fans will have seen a refusal to comply.

A giant Palestine flag was unfurled by Norway’s supporters before kick-off, along with another crowd-surfer of similar size. “Let children live,” it simply read. Many jeered and whistled Israel’s national anthem, too, holding aloft more Palestinian flags and red cards.

Israel fans hold up a banner (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

The reception lacked the hostility of the protest march that had concluded 100 yards outside the stadium, an organised demonstration that would later see a small number of people arrested, but it was a sporting occasion where Israel’s role in the Gaza conflict seeped through.

Chants of “Free Palestine” could even be heard from a small section of fans in the closing stages of Norway’s emphatic 5-0 win, where Israel found themselves ruthlessly pulled apart. Erling Haaland flourished up front for Norway, scoring a hat-trick despite missing two early penalties.

The Manchester City striker’s hat-trick ought to have been more, as he missed two early penalties.

A Palestine flag and ‘Let Children Live’ banner are unfurled during the anthems (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

The emphatic result pretty much ends Israel’s hopes of reaching next June’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but at the end of a week that has opened the door to peace, with a ceasefire brokered for Gaza, there was an eagerness to look at broader pictures.

“We have a big role in Israeli society, we have to stay together,” said Israel’s head coach Ran Ben Shimon afterwards. “The national team of Israel, and other national teams, have a bigger perspective than football.”

Forty-eight hours in Oslo had underlined as much.

This was no ordinary World Cup qualifier. One nation’s discomfort in hosting another had been clear since the group-stage draw was made last December, and an enormous security operation was deemed necessary across Oslo. Not since the Winter Olympics came here in 1994, they said, has Norway known such measures for a sporting event.

Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) general secretary Karl-Petter Loken said “almost a year” had been spent finalising plans that included a reduction of the ground’s 28,000 capacity by 2,500. Tarpaulins were placed over the front three rows of seats in the lower bowl in an attempt to stop spectators from getting onto the pitch. Seating directly above the small Israel section was also kept empty.

Loken had urged fans to be respectful in an address held in the Solskjaer Lounge of the Ullevaal on Friday afternoon but it was the voice of Lise Klaveness, the NFF’s president and UEFA executive committee member, that carried greater weight in the build-up.

She had made no secret of her belief that Israel ought to have been suspended by UEFA and FIFA, and received a hostile line of questioning from Israeli journalists in the room. There were accusations of hypocrisy and a poor understanding of the trauma that Israelis had suffered on October 7, 2023. Klaveness was asked to condemn the attacks led by Hamas, which saw around 1,200 people killed and over 250 taken hostage, despite repeatedly doing so.

NFF president and UEFA executive committee member Lise Klaveness speaking on Friday (Fredrik Varfjell/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

The NFF’s decision to give all profits from ticket sales from the Israel match to Doctors Without Borders, the independent humanitarian aid body working in Gaza, also drew scrutiny.

“We have learned over the weeks that it has been a provocation, which is 100 per cent not the intention,” Klavneness told reporters. “We wanted people to come and cheer for Norway in an important game but at the same time give money to humanitarian causes. Although we condemn the horrific attacks on October 7, 2023, on Israeli civilians, they don’t need financial aid from Norway.”

Klaveness also denied she had been part of any movement that wanted to have Israel banned by UEFA in the weeks leading up to their arrival in Oslo.

There had been “momentum”, she said, but was unable to say how close it had come on the back of a United Nations commission of inquiry saying Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, findings rejected by Israel. The Hamas-led health ministry says that 67,000 people have now been killed in Gaza over the past two years.

“Everybody observed there was a movement in Europe and I think everyone understands it’s not a Norwegian initiative,” she said. “I honestly don’t know about the momentum but it happened, and it did not come from us.”

She later added: “For Norway, it’s never been an aim to ban or boycott anyone, but to work consistently in (FIFA’s) rules.”

The Israel Football Association, though, had been stung by the stance of their Norwegian counterparts. A social media post on the morning of the game superimposed two Israel flags on the side of the Ullevaal. “Especially today and especially there,” its accompanying words read. “Proud to represent the blue and white.”

Israel had a good idea what would be awaiting them.

A demonstration had been organised by the Palestine Committee in Norway weeks before Saturday’s game and was unaffected by the breakthrough in peace talks between Hamas and Israel this week.

A 2pm gathering at the Spikersuppa ice-rink in central Oslo came shortly before the Norwegian parliament had been reopened nearby, with King Harald V driven up Karl Johans Gate, the city’s main street, in a classic convertible car, but the sentiment held towards Israel was much less warm. Placards of civilians killed in Gaza were handed out, along with red cards to illustrate that clear alignment with Klaveness.

It took just over an hour for the march north of cover the almost three miles to the Ullevaal in Oslo’s suburbs, with flares ignited to mark the arrival of over 1,000 people at a designated area just outside the stadium’s footprint, where a stage had been erected for rallying speeches and chanting.

A protest march from central Oslo arrives at the stadium before kick-off (Phil Buckingham/The Athletic)

By this time, the Israel team’s coach had arrived, behind high metal barriers. Dasa had been asked the day before if he had experienced such an unusual reception, which included a small protest as he and his team-mates trained the previous evening. “Unusual for who?” he replied. “For us, it’s quite normal.”

The large police presence, with a handful of riot vans positioned between the protestors and the stadium entrance, quelled any threat of violence until a small flashpoint close to half-time — tear gas was briefly used to disperse activists who attempted to break through police barricades.

Tear gas was used outside the Ullevaal Stadium (Javad Parsa/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s qualification hopes, by that stage, were as good as over. Despite Daniel Peretz saving those two Haaland penalties, including one that was ordered to be retaken due to encroachment, a clinical finish from the Manchester City forward in between own goals from Anan Khalaili and Idan Nachmias had built up an unassailable lead inside the opening half-hour.

The other notable incident of the first half was one person overcoming the tight security measures to reach the pitch. He was later identified as a self-publicist rather than a protestor, and the boos that greeted his arrival among the players underlined that most fans had not wished for distractions on a night of high footballing stakes.

Norway’s eventual dominant win, with two Haaland headers completing his hat-trick in the second half, was a just outcome for an Israel team beset by openness and poor organisation. Defeat away against Italy on Tuesday would confirm this to be another qualification campaign that falls short.

There was time for some final jeers from home supporters after the final whistle as Israel’s players thanked their small pocket of fans but this was a team now beginning to consider what comes next: Ben Shimon has spoken of his “dream” of them returning to play on Israeli soil again — for two years, their ‘home’ matches have been staged in Hungary instead — when the qualification competition for the 2028 European Championship begins.

Klaveness, too, had earlier voiced her happiness in the promise of peace. “It’s more important than the game, 100 per cent, that the bombs stop and the hostages come home,” she said.

That prospect has moved closer than ever in the past seven days, but Norway told the world again that its alliance is with the Palestinian people.