As a Norwegian living abroad I was very excited to finally get the opportunity to cover Norway’s national men’s team this last month as they played a couple of international friendlies. I was in Amsterdam the 23rd and 24th of March as I worked to photograph the TransferRoom Live event there where more than 500 of football’s decision makers met to discuss transfers and network for a couple of days. When I have a job like that, I always look for matches or other events happening the days before or after the event. It just so happened that a couple of days after the TransferRoom event Norway would play the Netherlands in an international friendly match at the Johan Cruyff ArenA in Amsterdam.

Planning this ahead of time, I secured my accreditation as a photographer for the match and decided to stay a couple of days longer in Amsterdam so that I could cover this match. Thursday the 26th I made my way to the stadium so that I could also cover the press conference with Norwegian coach Ståle Solbakken and captain Sander Berge, while also photographing the open training after. This was my first time covering the Norwegian national team and also my first time at this stadium, a beautiful stadium where Ajax play their home matches. With a possibility of rain for the match, the stadium having a roof ment extra comfort for us photographers also.

The following day I made it to the stadium early and after picking up the photographer-bib I found a nice spot next to the corner-flag on the side where Norway would attack in the first half. The match was quite good with Norway securing an early lead after a beautiful strike for Benfica star Andreas Schjelderup. However the Netherlands found their way back into it with an equalizer from Virgil van Dijk and Tijjani Reijnders with the winner early in the second half.

I enjoyed the experience, and the wifi at the stadium was the best I have seen anywhere and it was possible to send photos quickly without any problems during the whole match. I feel comfortable now during matches getting the photos, editing, applying metadata and sending it all within seconds an minutes. This match was special though as it was my first time photographing my home country. Another bonus was it was Norway’s first time in they new all black away uniform and with the World Cup coming up it is always nice to have some photos of this.

4 days later, I had another opportunity to photograph Norway again, this time in their brand new home-kit as they played Switzerland in another friendly at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Norway. This time Norwegian super-star Erling Braut Haaland had also joined up with the rest of the team and started the match. This was also my first time back at Ullevaal since I was a ball-boy there as a young boy more than 30 years ago, another one for the memories.

In addition to the usual game preparations and actions as a photographer it was also very nice to meet fellow Norwegian photographers and have a little chat. On top of this it is always nice to have photos out there for sale of the team now that we finally have qualified for a World Cup again after 28 years of waiting.

As always I am very grateful for every opportunity I get and excited to keep working hard and see what will come next.

On Assignment: Norway’s International Friendlies Through My Eyes

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