Brazil and Norway are back in the same conversation because Norway’s 2-1 win over Brazil in the final group game of the 1998 World Cup still defines the matchup. Ståle Solbakken’s side now carry that memory into another meeting, with the old result setting the measure for what Norway have done before and what they still need to show.
That night in Marseille ended with Kjetil Rekdal taking the late penalty at 1-1 and scoring from the spot. Arne Scheie lost his composure on air, first shouting “Vi har scoret i Marseille!” and then, as Rekdal stepped up, calling him “Kjetil Reknett, of Werder Bremen” before adding that it was “the most important kick of a ball in the history of the Norwegian football federation.”
Marseille and Rekdal
The sequence was simple and decisive. Norway had already put Brazil under pressure in the final group game, and Rekdal’s penalty settled it at 2-1. It was the kind of finish that turns a group-stage result into a national reference point, especially when it comes against Brazil in the World Cup.
Solbakken was on that 1998 team and played just over an hour in Norway’s 1-0 defeat to Italy in the last 16. That split result still sits at the heart of the story: Norway beat Brazil, then lost to Italy, a reminder that one landmark night did not erase the limits of that generation.
Solbakken and Norway
Before this tournament, Solbakken said in a Netflix documentary: “Historically in tournaments, Norway have played well in qualifying and then performed worse at the World Cup” and “Now we have to see if we can raise our game.” He is now asking the current squad to do what the first golden generation never quite managed after the breakthrough in Marseille.
That older group qualified for two World Cups, reached second place in the FIFA rankings, and beat England, Italy, Netherlands and Brazil. It still never won a knockout game at a major tournament. The contradiction matters because it keeps Norway’s best memory and their unfinished record tied together in the same fixture.
Three Current Players
There is also a generational link in the squad itself. Three current players have fathers who played at the 1994 World Cup, which gives the present team a direct family connection to the era that came before the Brazil win.
For Norway, the next step is not nostalgia but proof. The 1998 result is already fixed in memory, and Solbakken is now testing whether this group can build something stronger than a famous night in Marseille.
