The Arsenal captain joined thousands of supporters in Oslo after Norway returned home from their historic run to the World Cup quarter-finals.
Martin Odegaard admitted Norway’s World Cup experience and the support generated back home still felt “a little unreal” as the national team returned to Oslo following their historic run to the quarter-finals.
The Arsenal captain was speaking to Norwegian broadcaster NRK during a major public celebration held for Stale Solbakken’s squad on Monday evening.
Norway’s players landed at Oslo Airport after their 2-1 extra-time defeat to England brought the country’s best World Cup campaign to a close. Their flight was greeted with a water salute before the squad headed into the capital for a reception at the Royal Palace.
King Harald welcomed the players and staff, joined by other members of the royal family. The team then stepped outside the palace and made their way through central Oslo on an open-top bus, with large crowds lining the route.
Norwegian reports estimated that tens of thousands of fans turned out for the homecoming, following the huge celebrations that erupted after their round-of-16 win over Brazil.
While the squad was still in North America, Odegaard followed much of the reaction in Norway on social media. Experiencing it in person made it all the more powerful.
“Yes, the whole thing feels a little unreal, really,” Odegaard told NRK.
“Everything we have been through lately, everything we have experienced and the support we have felt, the whole thing is a little unreal.
“I think it will take some time for it to sink in, in a way, but it is fantastic to see all the people who are here, all the support and everything that has happened back home in Norway.”
The celebrations marked the end of a campaign that took Norway further than ever before at a men’s World Cup.
Norway returned to the tournament for the first time since 1998, made it through the group stage, and then beat Ivory Coast in the round of 32.
They then pulled off one of the results of the tournament, beating Brazil 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals. The run ended against England, but fans still packed central Oslo to celebrate what the team had achieved.
Odegaard and his teammates had watched the reaction unfold from their tournament base.
“You do get a bit of that feeling when you are sitting there looking at Instagram or TikTok, or whatever it is, and you see what it is like back home in Norway,” he added.
“Now we are finally here, so we get to be part of it as well, and it is fantastic.”
Odegaard captained Norway throughout the tournament, playing a central role as the team returned to the World Cup knockout stages.
His focus will soon shift back to Arsenal, but for now, the celebrations gave Odegaard and his teammates a chance to take in the scale of support their run had generated.
The scenes in Oslo showed just how quickly Norway’s World Cup run became a national event, with the players finally able to join the celebrations they had only seen from afar.