Erling Haaland and his Norwegian teammates were met with a hero's welcome upon their return to Norway, marking their best-ever World Cup performance.
Upon arrival at Oslo Airport, the team was greeted with a water arch from fire engines forming a rainbow over their plane. Thousands of fans lined the streets and gathered in Oslo to celebrate the squad's achievements. The team was later received by King Harald and Queen Sonja at the Royal Palace, where Haaland was seen shaking hands with the King.
Haaland himself garnered attention for carrying a stuffed raccoon, taxidermied with an empty gin bottle, as a souvenir from the tournament. He was pictured disembarking the plane with the raccoon in one hand and a designer bag in the other.
The team's journey in the World Cup concluded with a 2-1 extra-time defeat against England in the quarter-finals. Haaland, who scored seven goals in five matches, had to watch the closing stages of the match from the bench after being substituted.
Norway's World Cup campaign, their first since 1998, ended with a controversial loss to England. Questions were raised about Jude Bellingham's equalizing goal, with Norway arguing that the ball may have struck an overhead camera wire before play continued. Norway also had a second-half goal disallowed when Haaland was judged to have pushed an opponent. FIFA has since reviewed footage, including from the spidercam itself, which indicates the ball did not impact any cables during the build-up to Bellingham's first goal, suggesting the referee's decision was correct based on available data and video evidence.