If you plan to watch the games at a local sports bar or follow live commentary on NRK or TV 2, you’ll want to blend in with the locals.
Here’s the key Norwegian football vocabulary you’ll need to survive and enjoy the tournament.
The essentials
Before you talk tactics, it helps to know the basics. Norwegian uses quite a few English words, which makes things a bit easier.
Verdensmesterskap - World Cup. Right now in Norway, you’ll see the abbreviation VM everywhere, from city buses to milk cartons in the supermarket.
Fotball - football or soccer
En kamp - a match or game. For example, you can say to a friend: "Vi kan se kampen sammen" (We can watch the match together).
Et mål - a goal. When someone scores, you will hear a collective roar of "Mååål!"
Dommer - the referee. This is a key word for those moments when you want to blame the official for a bad result. A classic phrase is: "Dommeren er blind!" (The referee is blind!).
Lag - team
Landslaget - the national team
Spiller - player
Keeper - goalkeeper
Bane - the pitch or field
Stadion - stadium
Drakt - jersey or kit
Ball - ball
Turnering - tournament.
Gameplay
When you watch a live stream, commentators often use specific technical terms to describe the action.
Angrep - attack
Forsvar - defence
Pasning / Føring - a pass / driving the ball forward
Første omgang - first half
Andre omgang - second half.
Straffespark (or just "Straffe") - penalty kick
Hjørnespark (or "corner") - corner kick
Gult kort / rødt kort - yellow card / red card
Offside - offside
Selvmål - own goal
Tilleggstid - added time
Seier - victory / win
Tap - loss
Uavgjort - draw / tie
When the final whistle blows, you’ll either be celebrating a great seier or feeling the disappointment of a tap. If a match ends in a tie during the group stages, it’s called uavgjort.
Straffesparkkonkurranse - yes, a 23-letter word for penalty shootout.
Heia - To cheer or support. For example: "Hvem heier du på?" (Who are you backing?). The ultimate national chant is "Heia Norge!" (Go Norway!). You can also say 'heia' followed by your own country.
If you want to sound like a local when a player moves the ball forward, shout "Skyt!" (Shoot!) or "Kom igjen!" (Come on!). You can also join in with the general jubel (cheers) and heiarop (chants).
If you’re interested in more advanced tactical vocabulary, here are a few useful ones.
Støtte! / tilbake! / bakover!- play a safe back pass
Rygg! / pass bak! / Bakfra! - Watch your back! (Warning a player that an opponent is approaching from behind).
Fri! / alene! / du er fri!"- You have space/time! (Telling the player they can safely turn around with the ball).
Kjør! - go! drive forward fast towards the enemy goal.
Snu! / motsatt! - switch the play to the other side of the pitch.
World Cup chat
Å ro - to row: You can probably see Norwegian fans shouting "ro, ro!" (row, row!) in the stadiums and all over social media reels. This refers to the famous "Viking row", a celebration where fans (and even politicians) mimic the motion of rowing a Viking longship to support the national team.
Workplace chat
Many international workers find it tough to start casual conversations with their Norwegian colleagues around the office coffee machine.
However, the World Cup is a great way to break the ice and start a conversation, at least for the weeks before everyone leaves for summer holidays.
To help you start, try using the phrase glede seg til (to look forward to) with fotballkampen (the football match) to show your coworkers you’re excited about the game:
"Jeg gleder meg til å se fotballkampen i dag. Hva med deg?" - I am looking forward to watching the football match today. What about you?
Here are some other everyday questions you can use to chat with colleagues in the hallway or lunchroom:
"Hvilket lag heier du på?" - Which team do you support? To answer, you can say "Jeg heier på New Zealand" (I support New Zealand) or just use your own country.
"Skal du se kampen i dag?" - Are you going to watch today's match?
"Når spiller landslaget i dag?" - What time does the national team play today? (Landslaget means the national team).
"Hvor skal vi se kampen i dag?" - Where are we going to watch the match today?
"Har du lyst til å se kampen sammen med meg?" - Do you want to go watch the match with me?
"Så du kampen i går?" - Did you see the match yesterday?
"Vant laget ditt i går?" - Did your team win yesterday?
"Laget ditt tapte i forrige uke" - Your team lost last week
"Gratulerer, Norge vant kampen!" - Congratulations, Norway won the game!
"Spilte laget ditt uavgjort?" - Did your team draw?
If you want to extend your social streak even further throughout the month, look out for the office sweepstakes. In Norway, it’s a big tradition to organize a workplace betting pool for major tournaments, usually called a tippekonkurranse or VM-tipping.
Even major Norwegian media outlets like VG run their own national prediction games (called VG-profeten), and the state betting company, Norsk Tipping, has its own betting games.
To express frustration
When the opposing team scores a last-minute goal or a player receives a red card, you’ll hear these words shouted by frustrated fans.
Faen! - The absolute king of Norwegian swear words. It roughly translates to "damn" or "fuck"
Helvete! - Hell
Faen i helvete! when everything goes wrong.
Jævla... - Fucking... Used as an adjective before any noun,. for example Jævla dommer!
Pub phrases
If you get a spot at a bar late at night, you’ll want to keep the drinks coming.
En øl, takk - A beer, please
Skål! - Cheers! Get ready to use it when the national team wins.
Viser dere kampen? - Are you showing the match? Handy if you are wandering around looking for a screen.
Er det ledig her? - Is this seat taken?
Har dere ledige bord til neste kamp? - Do you have any tables available for the next match?
Nyt kampen (enjoy the match), and Heia Norge!
Comments