Norway vs Denmark prediction and predicted line-ups: Riemer loses Bah and Dolberg too. Nations League
Haaland's Norway host a Denmark side who have lost Christensen, Bah and Dolberg in three days. Solbakken faces his former Copenhagen assistant Riemer, and Norway are without a win in seven against the Danes.
Ståle Solbakken and Brian Riemer worked together at FC Copenhagen from 2012 to 2015, as head coach and assistant. On Thursday 24 September they meet in opposite dugouts at Ullevaal in Oslo on the opening night of the Nations League: Erling Haaland's Norway, who reached the first World Cup quarter-final in their history this summer, against a Denmark side who watched that tournament from home and have lost Christensen, Bah and Dolberg in the space of three days. Norway have played Denmark seven times since 2002 without beating them.
Norway vs Denmark: kick-off time and venue
Norway vs Denmark kicks off at 19:45 UK time (20:45 CEST) on Thursday 24 September at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, which is sold out: UEFA gives its capacity as 27,184. It is Group A4 of League A in the Nations League, with holders Portugal and Wales, who meet in Lisbon at the same time: for that game, our call is no more than four goals, confidence 6 out of 10. The top two go through to the quarter-finals in March 2027, the bottom side goes down to League B or into a play-off, and third place can also mean a play-off. Germany's Tobias Stieler is the referee, with Robert Schröder on VAR.
Team news
Denmark lost Barcelona's Andreas Christensen to a thigh problem on Saturday 19 September and called up Lucas Høgsberg. On Tuesday 22 September Benfica's Alexander Bah also dropped out, after aggravating a shoulder injury at the weekend, along with Kasper Dolberg, who hurt his knee in training and faces a long lay-off. Anton Gaaei and Mohamed Daramy replace them. Between them the three have 160 caps. Christian Eriksen is not in the squad and has not played since he was taken ill during the friendly with Ukraine in Odense on 7 June.
Norway are without Atlético Madrid's Alexander Sørloth, who has been out for about a month with a muscle injury and misses all four games.
Norway vs Denmark predicted line-ups
Two previews from early in the week pick the same Norway players, one in a 4-3-3 and the other in a 4-2-3-1 with Ødegaard behind Haaland, and on Wednesday the Danish press reported that Borussia Dortmund's Julian Ryerson is expected to start: Norway (4-3-3): Nyland; Ryerson, Ajer, Heggem or Østigård, Wolfe; Ødegaard, Berg, Berge; Bobb or Schjelderup, Haaland, Nusa. The centre-back decision is between two Serie A players, Bologna's Torbjørn Heggem and Genoa's Leo Østigård.
No Denmark XI holds up any more: the predictions from earlier in the week had Bah at right-back, and as of Wednesday nobody had said who will replace him. On Monday 21 September Solbakken even had a go at naming the Danish side on television, with Bah in it, before adding: “Da har du bare spillere fra det høyeste nivået, så vi må være litt forsiktige, for dette er ikke Norge mot Malta” (That's only players from the very top level, so we need to be a bit careful, because this isn't Norway against Malta). The fixed points are Joachim Andersen at centre-back, partnered by Victor Nelsson or Lazio's Oliver Provstgaard, Mæhle on the left, Hjulmand, who joined Atlético Madrid in the summer, and captain Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in midfield, and Napoli's Rasmus Højlund up front. Hermansen or Filip Jørgensen will be in goal, Froholdt or Bidstrup completes the midfield, and Lazio's Gustav Isaksen or Dorgu and Damsgaard are the options out wide. The official line-ups are released about an hour before kick-off.
Head-to-head and form
The last meeting was a friendly in Brøndby on 8 June 2024, won 3-1 by Denmark with goals from Højbjerg, Vestergaard and Poulsen; Haaland scored for Norway. Their last competitive games against each other came in qualifying for Euro 2012: 1-1 in Oslo on 26 March 2011 and 2-0 to Denmark in Copenhagen on 6 September 2011.
In their last five World Cup games Norway beat Senegal 3-2, lost 4-1 to France, then knocked out Ivory Coast and Brazil, both 2-1, before going out 2-1 to England in the quarter-finals on 11 July. Haaland scored seven goals in the tournament, and he has 38 in 32 internationals at Ullevaal. Denmark finished qualifying with a 3-1 win over Greece, a 2-2 draw with Belarus and a 4-2 defeat in Scotland; in the March play-offs they beat North Macedonia 4-0 and then lost the final to Czechia on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
Our Norway vs Denmark prediction
Our call is at least two goals, confidence 7 out of 10. Norway's last five competitive games, all at the World Cup, and Denmark's last five all produced at least three goals, and the Danish defence is without Christensen and Bah. On Tuesday 22 September Joachim Andersen said of Haaland: “Han er den sværeste, jeg har spillet imod i Premier League, fordi han er så klinisk som afslutter” (He's the hardest I've played against in the Premier League, because he's such a clinical finisher). The rest of the round is in our matchday one preview.
Every game with our calls is on the Nations League page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and our calls on individual players are in player predictions.
