Oslo turns into an arena for mass celebration despite Norway’s farewell to the World Cup

More than 100,000 fans poured into the streets of the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on Monday, to give their country’s football team a hero’s welcome, turning the bitterness of exiting the World Cup into massive national celebrations.

Norway had exited the tournament in the quarter-finals after losing to England 2-1 after extra time on Saturday, thus ending its historic run in the finals and dashing its hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

But the result did not obscure the extent of the achievement achieved by the team, nor did it reduce the enthusiasm of the fans to celebrate their players.

Crowds gathered around the Royal Palace since the early afternoon hours under the bright summer sun, while unofficial estimates indicated that the number of attendees exceeded 100,000 people.

Upon its arrival, the team’s delegation received a traditional reception with a water cannon salute, before the start of the homecoming procession through the streets of the capital.

The Royal Palace Square was soon packed to capacity, while rows of fans stretched along Karl Johans Street, Oslo’s main street, where the national team first headed to meet King Harald.

After the match, the players came out to greet the gathered fans, while members of the Royal Guard lined up behind them at attention, in a solemn festive scene.

The closing moments of the celebrations witnessed the absence of striker Erling Haaland, who had to leave early, which prevented him from participating with his teammates standing on the palace steps to perform the traditional “Vikings” chant in front of tens of thousands of fans gathered at the bottom of the stairs, while Crown Prince Haakon took over the leadership of the scene by beating drums.

“Erling and Sander Berg had to catch their plane, after our flight from the United States was delayed by four hours,” coach Stole Solbakken said, while the team was preparing to continue the celebrations by taking an open-air bus tour through the streets of Oslo.