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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Winning women missed the king

It’s been a big weekend for football (soccer) in Norway, and King Harald was in place on Sunday when the men’s teams playing for the Norwegian championship faced off in Oslo. But when the women’s teams battled for gold in their own Cup Final on Saturday, the monarch didn’t turn up.

King Harald was in place for the men's football championship on Sunday, but didn't turn up at the women's Cup Final on Saturday, which Røa won by a score of 7-0. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK), though, carried both matches live on national TV. PHOTO: NRK

Nor did Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who along with King Harald had made time in their busy schedules for the women’s national football championship last autumn. This time, the women were disappointed.

“I missed the king, and the prime minister,” said Guro Knutsen Mienna of the winning women’s football club Røa. “They were here last year.”

The absence of both the king and prime minister meant that the government minister in charge of sports and culture, Anniken Huitfeldt, was left to hand out the prized winners’ cup to Røa. “Of course it’s fine that the Minister of Culture was here,” Knutsen Mienna added.

So were just over 5,300 spectators in the Telenor Arena at Fornebu, west of Oslo, who watched Røa trounce opposing club Trondheims Ørn by a score of 7-0. The women from Røa, an Oslo club known for being a powerhouse, were completely dominant throughout the match.

Røa already had five cup final victories on its record, and four league championships, but Saturday’s 7-0 victory was the biggest in 19 years, reported newspaper Aftenposten.

The team from Trondheim was totally overcome, but coach Gøril Kringen said her players should still be proud.

“Yes, we made a lot of mistakes, and the numbers were catastrophic, but we’ve still won silver in the Norwegian Championships of the country’s biggest sport for women,” she told Aftenposten.

(For news on the men’s Cup Final, click here.)

Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund
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