The 1995 Women's World Cup Final
Hege Riise, Little Norway and whether small countries can still win the World Cup
“With all the big nations really putting money into their women’s programmes now, little Norway will never…well I would not say never, but we will struggle to get to finals like we did when I played”
Hege Riise
Women’s football has spread across the world separately in direction from how men’s football did, with success in the women’s game historically distinct from the traditional male football powers.
Germany are the only country to have ever won a men’s and women’s World Cup whilst Barcelona are the only club to have ever won a men’s and women’s Champions League. Only half of the current top ten in the FIFA rankings have won a men’s World Cup.1 But even among this current top ten list only two teams are Women’s World Cup winners and only four are finalists.
It seems that at club and international level, there is a shift towards the more familiar names who have come to dominate the sport in recent years. Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Chelsea have all become first time Champions League finalists within the last decade. Internationally, the historically strong Asian nations have faded into the background with traditional European countries strengthening.
The spread of men’s football was heavily influenced by British migration with its emergence closely linked to patterns of colonialism or trade.2 Once the seed had been planted the game took on a life of its own with central Europe - in particular Austria and Hungary - becoming hotbeds for tactical innovation.3 Yet football does not develop in a vacuum and the rise of fascism greatly damaged the burgeoning cultures that had existed in the 1930s. This is just one example of how who we understand as a historic nation in football can be altered by factors far more diverse than GDP or population size.
Given the historic suppression of women’s football, the sport developed within the context of existing footballing and sporting cultures. The early prominence of the Scandinavian nations has been linked to greater levels of gender equality in those nations.4 But despite this, women’s football was not officially recognised by the federations in Norway and Sweden until the mid-1970s. Where perhaps the development of the game differed to other countries was the groundswell of grassroots interest. In Norway, a youth tournament called the Norway Cup was admitting girls teams four years before the sport was officially recognised by the federation.5 Similarly in Sweden, female workers began setting up teams and leagues during the 1960s, spurring other workers across the country to do the same, outside of the remit of the federation.6
This created a robust community of leaders within women’s football; after all it was Norwegian delegate Ellen Willie who demanded in 1986 that FIFA begin holding a Women’s World Cup.7 Greater gender equality may have played a role in creating the conditions for women to enthusiastically embrace football in Scandinavia but this was a bottom-up development, not a top-down one.
The 1995 World Cup was the first to be held in Europe - originally slated to take place in Bulgaria, Sweden hosted - and was the first to have an all-European final - something that has only happened once again since then. For Norway, winning was the crowning achievement of their time at the top of women’s football, although it was not their final one - there was still an Olympic Gold in 2000 to come. ‘Little Norway’, as Hege Riise refers to them, were the smallest nation by population to win a World Cup, aside from Uruguay. Has the world of women’s football changed irretrievably beyond that possibility now?
Having lost the final in 1991, Norway meant business, scoring 17 goals and conceding none as they breezed through a group containing England, Canada and Nigeria. There was a 3-1 win in the quarter-finals over Denmark, and a satisfying 1-0 win to knock favourites USA out in the semi-finals. Their controversial train celebration after the victory caused consternation in the American camp, leading Linda Medalen to remark ahead of the 1999 World Cup: “It’s fun to beat the Americans because they get so upset and make so much noise when they lose. This is a problem. Never be weak.” Norway were far from being plucky underdogs.
Their opponents in the final would be a set of rising stars in Germany. They had the youngest average age at the tournament and were provided with significant support from their federation, perhaps a first sign of how more established footballing nations could get an edge. Whilst other teams got trains across Sweden, the Germans had a private plane. There were wins against Japan and Brazil in the group stages, and despite losing to hosts Sweden, qualified top of their group. They beat England and China to reach their first World Cup final.
The 1995 final was played in absolutely torrential rain with the pitch becoming close to unplayable towards the end of the game. The technical limitations of this were clear and despite Germany showing flashes of brilliance - a backheel flick after ten minutes from a 17 year old Birgit Prinz, for example - their defence looked wobbly. They had lost the semi-finals of the 1991 World Cup in surprise fashion after the USA had ripped through them to go 3-0 up after the opening 33 minutes. It did not feel like they had got much more secure - early on in the match, their goalkeeper Manuela Goller was almost lobbed by the bounce of the ball.
The Norwegian team felt like they had perfected a combination of the physicality the USA had with a technical capacity to deal with Germany. “We had developed a way of training — really intense — that meant we were in the best shape of our careers, feeling pretty much unstoppable by the time the World Cup came around,” said Hege Riise. Norway repeatedly turned the ball over in midfield, enabling them to start attacks higher up the pitch and were not shy at all about putting tackles in. Meanwhile their aerial threat caused Germany significant problems; the 6ft Ann Kristin Aarønes had headed in the goal that knocked the USA out in the semi-finals and would go on to finish top scorer of the World Cup overall.
Hege Riise was far less isolated than she had been in the 1991 final, although she also showed her own individual brilliance after 36 minutes when she went through three German players before firing into the far corner. Four minutes later, Germany gave away the ball on the edge of the area and when a strong shot could only be palmed away by Goller, Marianne Pettersen slid in in front of two German defenders to tap in Norway’s second. A more energetic second-half from Germany could not get them back in the game, and with the weather worsening, Norway were able to hold onto their 2-0 lead.
It is hard to understate how good Hege Riise is during this match. Everything exciting that Norway does comes through her and those glimpses of magic that could be seen in the 1991 final actually come off here. She is the most technically gifted and creative player on this Norway team - well deserving of winning the Golden Ball for the tournament. “She could always see those genius passes before anyone else. You knew that if you were in a difficult position with the ball, you can always play to Hege and she would do something clever with it,” said one of her teammates at the 2000 Olympics, Goril Kringen.
When Riise was appointed to the England job, Pia Sundhage - who played against Riise on many occasions, and appointed her as her assistant when she was managing the USA - said: "she read the game very well and she was good on both sides of the ball, both defending and attacking". Carli Lloyd was apparently overawed with how good Riise was when she watched clips of her playing days after she had been appointed. But many of those who have spent time around Riise have emphasised her quietness. Sundhage described her as a “listener” whilst Lloyd called her a “woman of few words”.
The development of talented former players into managers is not a guaranteed process. Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard’s fall from debating which one is the best English midfielder to which one is the most mediocre English manager is a stark reminder of that. Being an intelligent, creative player does not always translate into being an intelligent, creative coach. The way managers approach the development of the game since they played is also crucial to their success.
Hege Riise heads into this summer’s World Cup in arguably her biggest coaching role yet, at the helm of a Norway side with pockets of immense talent. But when talking about her current Norway team, she said “against the better teams, we started by focusing on defence and counter-attacks. We’ve been able to play England, France, Holland and Brazil, and all of those games have added to that process of building our own style.”
The emphasis is clear; Riise does not see Norway as being a big team anymore. Recent history would agree with her. They bombed out of the Euros at the group stage complete with an 8-0 thrashing at the hands of England. They have not made it to the semi-finals of a World Cup since 2007.
But at the same time, a front three of Guro Reiten, Ada Hegerberg, and Caroline Graham Hansen is arguably the best attacking trio in the world. When you add in Frida Maanum behind them, there is certainly not a shortage of talent in the side.
Has women’s football moved beyond this? The ability of a smaller nation to take on those with a bigger player pool, greater financial backing, a more established infrastructure, and win? In some ways, the draw of international football is that you cannot directly buy it. Plenty of nations, including England, have shown that being a “football” country is no guarantee of success.
The nations at the top of international football - whether in men’s or women’s football - regularly ebb and flow in their success. Whilst more countries are undoubtedly increasing support for their women’s teams, many are still very poorly run. France could not harness the success of Lyon even though a number of French internationals were part of a squad that was the best in the world. Spain, similarly, have allowed internal politics to divide their squad, meaning they head to the World Cup missing a number of immensely talented Barcelona-trained players. Even Norway themselves went to the 2019 World Cup without Ada Hegerberg due to their own mismanagement.
Riise may feel that Norway’s weaker league system, without a European super club to develop domestic talent, is a limiting factor. But that ignores the internationalism of their own history. Norway’s prominence on the international stage meant they attracted the attention of early professional leagues around the world. Twelve players from across Scandinavia including Hege Riise and Linda Medalen went to play in the professional Japanese league after the 1995 World Cup, earning salaries of around 100,000 euros for participating in the six month league.8 The front three of Graham Hansen, Hegerberg and Reiten play for Barcelona, Lyon and Chelsea respectively.
To rule Norway out of competing at the very top was a strange admittance of defeat from Riise. Given the public criticism of the federation in the past from one of the world’s most high profile players, it also feels like a purposeful attempt to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. As a player she had the creativity to slalom through defences in a World Cup final. For Norway it is a shame that that same kind of vision is sorely lacking in her management.
Germany, England, France, Spain and Brazil are the five teams to have won one. The USA, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden and Australia the five to not - although given The Netherlands have reached the final three times, you could arguably put them in the former category.
Wilson, J (2013) Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics 2nd edition
Wilson, J (2013) ibid.
Wrack, S (2022) A Woman’s Game: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Women’s Football
Wrack, S (2022) ibid.
Theivam, K and J. Kassouf (2019) The Making of the Women’s World Cup: Defining stories from a sport’s coming of age
Skogvang, B (2019) ‘Scandinavian women’s football: the importance of male and female pioneers in the development of the sport’, Sport in History, 39:2, 207-228
> Similarly in Sweden, female workers began setting up teams and leagues during the 1960s, spurring other workers across the country to do the same, outside of the remit of the federation. This created a robust community of leaders within women’s football; after all it was Norwegian delegate Ellen Willie who demanded in 1986 that FIFA begin holding a Women’s World Cup.
As football gets bigger its affected by pretty much the same process that has affected German clubs like Turbine Potsdam. Makes all of this "success" feel very bittersweet sometimes.
Really enjoyed this. PS. where are you watching these games?