The Norway Cup, an international youth football tournament held annually in Oslo, will still go ahead after the terrorist attacks on Oslo and Utøya.
The organizers have received police approval to carry on with the tournament, which kicks off Sunday and typically lasts one week, as planned.
Terje Lund, who heads the Norway Cup’s organizing committee, told Aftenposten that they “have received strong recommendations from the government level to carry out the sporting part of the schedule,” adding that “it is important that the sport contributes to lessening grief.” Non-sporting aspects of the Norway Cup programme, such as the opening ceremony and parade, will nonetheless be adjusted given the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
The decision to continue came after deliberations by the organizing committee over the weekend. Lund commented that the organizers “did not want to do anything that is not OK with the police,” and sent a new security application to the police in order to check arrangements. The Norwegian Football Association, and the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, were also involved in the decision. The leader of the Labour Youth affected by the shootings at Utøya, Eskil Pedersen, also agreed that is should go ahead.
The Norway Cup has been held in Oslo since 1972, and typically involves around 1,400 teams from across the world. Participants are aged between 10 and 19 years old. It is believed to be the second largest youth cup in the world, and one of the largest football tournaments overall.
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