Instructed to right the ship, Norway manager Gemma Grainger brings something new to Euro 2025

New York Times

12 hours ago

The Law of Jante, or Janteloven in Norwegian, is not an actual law. It is rarely discussed among friends. But at some point in her life, Norway international Maren Mjelde came to know it intimately.
'It's like a philosophy,' the former Chelsea and Everton defender says over the phone about the phenomenon, which stems from a satirical novel by Danish-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose. It's presented as a set of rules for a fictional town called Jante.
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The law, which is said to reflect Scandinavian values, is code for 'stay humble'.
'The most important thing is the team,' Mjelde adds. 'Then you.'
Two years ago, Mjelde's compatriot Caroline Graham Hansen referenced it after she was dropped by Norway boss Hege Riise for their second World Cup 2023 group stage game against Switzerland after being upset by co-hosts New Zealand in the tournament's opener.
'I think that in Norway we have a tradition of putting everyone in the same box,' the Barcelona winger, a three-time Champions League winner who came second for the 2024 Ballon d'Or, said after being left on the bench. 'The Law of Jante is strong.'
Mjelde gets the Law of Jante. She also gets why, sometimes, it sucks. 'If you're really good, you're allowed to be a little bit arrogant,' she says.
Norway have reason to be arrogant. They are two-time European champions and one-time world champions. Their current team brims with top-level talent from across Europe: Hansen, former Barcelona team-mate Ingrid Engen, Arsenal forward Frida Mannum, Chelsea midfielder Guro Reiten, Lyon striker Ada Hegerberg, Manchester United duo Celin Bizet and Elisabeth Terland, and Bayern Munich defender Tuva Hansen (you might recognise that name from the World Sevens).
The past few years, however, they have failed to live up to expectations.
At Euro 2022, Norway crashed out of the group stages for the second Euros in a row, losing 8-0 to eventual champions England in their second match. Head coach Martin Sjogren subsequently resigned after five years in charge. The following summer brought another managerial change, as Riise left her role after the team's last-16 World Cup elimination to Japan. Her exit was flanked by reports of internal strife, with players allegedly unhappy with perceived tactical imbalances and in-game decisions, including the benching of Graham-Hansen during the World Cup group stages.
Ahead of Euro 2025, however, the tremblings of squad friction are gone, and expectations are even higher as Norway landed in a favourable group alongside Iceland, Finland and hosts Switzerland.
Another reason is the arrival of head coach Gemma Grainger in January 2024.
Tasked with 'bringing the group together', Grainger left her post with Wales to take the lead in Norway. In her 16 matches in charge, Norway have won seven, drawn six and lost three. Grainger has had to navigate injuries and absences to key players during the UEFA Nations League, including Chelsea's Guro Reiten, without the help of friendlies.
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'I don't think I've named the same starting four attackers since I've been here,' Grainger says from her office in Oslo. Fresh off a lunch of a waffle with brown cheese ('Sounds disgusting, but I cannot recommend it enough,' she says), Grainger speaks excitedly about the summer. Taking the Norway job wasn't on the former England youth coach's radar, particularly after narrowly missing out on a first major tournament with Wales in extra time of a 2023 World Cup playoff final against Switzerland.
'I was so invested there,' Grainger says of Wales. 'But it was an opportunity that I felt I couldn't turn down. The history, the potential, but also where the team was at and what they wanted from their new head coach, both on and off the pitch. I was at the World Cup as an observer. I was aware of what happened with Norway.'
Stepping off the plane in short socks and exposed ankles in February 2024, Grainger felt the chill of -24C and immediately phoned her mum. But she's done well to settle. Her vocabulary and that of her staff have been upgraded with Norwegian football lingo. (Duolingo doesn't teach 'pocket of space' in its free version, according to Mjelde.)
Darts fever hasn't caught on in Oslo the same as in Middlesbrough, where Grainger grew up escorting her dad to the local pub to play the sport. That hasn't stopped her from watching Premier League Darts every Thursday, taking in the spectacle that is 18-year-old arrow-slinger Luke Littler.
'I like it when you see he's too relaxed, he does some bad shots, then he turns it back up. I'm like, this guy's so good,' Grainger says.
In this way, Littler is educational: a maverick disassembling the darting continental shelf, an indulgence in the individual in a country of the collective.
'I very much focus on the individual in the team,' says Grainger, who is Norway's first English manager and the only English manager coaching in this year's Euros. 'The view here is egalitarian, the culture of the flat hierarchy. Whereas in England, maybe it's not so much. The unique thing about Norway is that these players are playing across eight different leagues in Europe. So while it's about respecting the Norwegian culture, it's about recognising and appreciating the individual within the team.
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'So I spent the time to listen to them, having a team that can be aligned, but also have individuals who can be at their best. Because normally that's the biggest difference in the big teams: you can get the best out of your best players.'
Grainger's focus on the individual keeps her busy. It also contradicts the Law of Jante. Days are spent travelling across Europe to check in with players. A focus on the individual also means hard conversations, as was the case with Mjelde, who found herself not called into the Norway squad after leaving Chelsea and returning to Norway for six months to play for first division side Arna-Bjornar (coached by her brother).
'I was honest with Gemma about what I needed,' says Mjelde, who featured for Grainger for the first time since December 3, 2024 (3-0 Euro qualifying victory against Northern Ireland), when she started in the 1-0 Nations League win against Switzerland on June 3. 'I said to Gemma, I'm willing to do everything to get back into this squad. She said, as long as you perform, as long as you're in a good place, she would always consider me to come back into the squad.'
Norway failed to get the better of France in their most recent Nations League group, while they drew twice with Iceland, their group stage opponents next month. Early on in Grainger's tenure, a run of four draws against Italy, Finland and the Netherlands further exposed the need for improvement.
Even so, Norway are expected to comfortably make it out of the group stages.
'I heard one coach say there are no big teams in Group A,' Grainger says with a wry smile. Recent history is a timely reminder not to get ahead of oneself, but shifting the perspective of what Norway at a major tournament are capable of has been another goal of Grainger's since arriving.
'We talk a lot about how we want people to see us,' Mjelde says. 'We've always had a really good group at Norway, it's a place you enjoy being. We just have to bring that out on the pitch to succeed. When you go through tournaments where you don't succeed, you have to figure out what didn't work. Everyone's been doing a great job. So we want people to see us as that hard-working team, a team that's together.'