There will be some huge footballing stars at Euro 2024, from Cristiano Ronaldo gunning for one final shot at international glory with Portugal, to an England side spearheaded by the youth of Jude Bellingham and the experience of Harry Kane. And don't forget a France team packed with superstars, such as Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.
But there's a couple of big European players who won't compete at the tournament — and two of them play for Norway.
Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard might be tearing the Premier League asunder for Manchester City and Arsenal respectively, but the pair have yet to ignite in Norwegian colours, once again failing to qualify for a major tournament this time around.
So how on earth did this nation, who boast two of Europe's best and most productive players, miss out on a spot at Euro 2024? The Sporting News goes through the qualification campaign and explains.
MORE: Every Erling Haaland goal for Manchester City, updated list
Norway Euro 2024 qualification results and standings
Norway would have been confident of qualifying when the draw was made for the qualification stage, although they would likely have targeted second place in Group A behind three-time European champions Spain. However, in the end, they finished six points adrift of second-place Scotland.
Euro 2024 Group A final standings:
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Spain (Q) | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | +20 | 21 |
| Scotland (Q) | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | +9 | 17 |
| Norway | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | +2 | 11 |
| Georgia | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -6 | 8 |
| Cyprus | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | -25 | 0 |
Norway results in Euro 2024 qualifying:
| Date | Game | Norway scorers |
| 25 March, 2023 | Spain 3-0 Norway | — |
| 28 March, 2023 | Georgia 1-1 Norway | Sorloth |
| 17 June, 2023 | Norway 1-2 Scotland | Haaland |
| 20 June, 2023 | Norway 3-1 Cyprus | Solbakken, Haaland x 2 |
| 12 Sept, 2023 | Norway 2-1 Georgia | Haaland, Odegaard |
| 12 Oct, 2023 | Cyprus 0-4 Norway | Sorloth, Aursnes, Haaland x 2 |
| 15 Oct, 2023 | Norway 0-1 Spain | — |
| 19 Nov, 2023 | Scotland 3-3 Norway | Donnum, Strand Larsen, Elyounoussi |
There was also no reprieve for Norway via the playoff route, as their UEFA Nations League performance was not good enough to earn them a spot as one of the 12 teams in that draw due to UEFA's rather complicated rankings process.
How Haaland and Odegaard performed in qualifying
Erling Haaland did fire six goals for Norway in eight qualifying matches for the European Championship, two of them penalties. But, perhaps crucially, he failed to net in either game against group heavyweights Spain, with five of those six goals coming in wins over minnows Georgia and Cyprus.
Martin Odegaard, meanwhile, only scored one goal in qualifying, while the pair both had their injury issues at times, and naturally their absences are keenly felt by a national squad not otherwise brimming with quality.
The vital game that dashed Norway's qualification hopes was their 2-1 defeat at home to Scotland in June, a game that came just a week after Haaland had played — and won — the Champions League final with Manchester City.
The City squad embarked on some raucous celebrations after that win over Inter Milan sealed a famous treble, even going to Ibiza to party. Norway manager Stale Solbakken had been adamant Haaland would be fresh enough to play a full part against Scotland in Oslo, but the game ended in defeat despite the striker breaking the deadlock with a 61st-minute penalty. The Scots struck twice late on to nick it.
Solbakken wasn't happy with his team after the game and was particularly frustrated that Haaland was not involved enough.
He said: "In the last few minutes Erling was on the field, we played with one less man. He was completely empty. He had run out of steam."
❌ Euro 2024
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 20, 2023
❌ World Cup 2022
❌ Euro 2020
Haaland and Odegaard have failed to qualify for a major tournament with Norway for a third successive time 🇳🇴😔 pic.twitter.com/pIqHicBBfJ
There's a sense that Norway are underachieving and need to channel the spirit of teams like Wales who had a superstar in Gareth Bale, another top player in Aaron Ramsey but otherwise a fairly average squad, yet reached major tournaments in 2016, 2020 and 2022 and even got to the semifinals of Euro 2016.
On Haaland, Odegaard believes the squad need to figure out "how to use him better" and even though the City man scored in three successive wins after the Scotland home loss, qualification chances were fully extinguished in October with a 1-0 reverse to Spain.
By that stage, the playoff route had also closed on Norway, as they hadn't performed well enough in the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League to open up a backdoor passage to Euro 2024.
Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF), said the national team is a "long-term plan" and they are sticking with Solbakken as manager as they look to finally end their major tournament hoodoo. Norway haven't been involved in one since Euro 2000, which took place before Haaland was even born.
Other major stars missing out on Euro 2024
Other notbale players to be missing out entirely on the European Championship next summer include Sweden trio Victor Lindelof, Dejan Kulusevski and Alexander Isak, as well as promising Republic of Ireland striker Evan Ferguson.
Robert Lewandowski is in danger of missing out, with Poland going through the playoffs. They could potentially meet Wales in a playoff final, with the likes of Brennan Johnson spearheading the Welsh effort.
Oleksandr Zinchenko's Ukraine are also involved in the playoffs, so too Georgia, who feature the exciting winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of Napoli.
