‘It’s very relaxed and we’re good friends – and that’s how it should be. Whatever happens during the game stays out on the pitch’ Martin Odegaard on his relationship with international team-mate and club rival Erling Haaland

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The Norway stars will play together at this summer’s World Cup - but not before a title race against each other

Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard in conversation during Norway's UEFA Nations League game against Serbia in June 2022.
Halland and Odegaard will be looking to lead Norway at this summer's World Cup (Image credit: Getty Images)

When Norway sealed their spot at this summer’s World Cup, it marked the end of a 28-year exile from the planet’s biggest tournament.

The 1998 Norwegian squad, managed by Egil Olsen, featured the likes of Premier League stars Ronny Johnsen, Henning Berg, Tore Andre Flo and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Odegaard on his relationship with Haaland

Norway striker Erling Haaland leads the way in European World Cup qualifying with 14 goals

Haaland's Manchester City are chasing down Odegaard's Arsenal in the Premier League (Image credit: Getty Images)

Odegaard and Haaland will be key to coach Stale Solbakken’s plans this summer, but before the Norwegian skipper and chief goal getter can turn their attention to the World Cup, they have the no-so-insignificant matter of a Premier League title race to settle.

Odegaard’s Arsenal have set the early pace this season, but the Gunners will be only too aware of City’s penchant for late-season runs ahead of the season’s climax on Sunday, May 24.

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But while the pair will spend the next three months as rivals, Odegaard insists this will not impact the pair’s friendship off the pitch.

“We’re really relaxed about it,” Odegaard tells FourFourTwo. “He knows, I know, everyone knows that we’re competing against each other.

“That’s just the way it is. But when it comes to the national team, or even outside of football, we don’t really talk about it at all.

“We’re just normal friends. We talk about other things, or about the national team when we’re together. We don’t really speak about football that much.

Martin Odegaard adjusts his captain's armband while playing for Norway against Slovakia, 2024

Odegaard is captain for club and country (Image credit: Alamy)

“It’s very relaxed and we’re good friends – and that’s how it should be. Whatever happens during the game stays out on the pitch. That’s one of the nice things about football.

“You give everything, you leave everything out there, then you move on. We focus on ourselves, on the things that we can control.”

Norway kick off their Group I campaign with a match against a to-be-determined play-off winner on June 16, before matches against AFCON champions Senegal and 2022 World Cup runners-up France.

Joe Mewis
Joe Mewis

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.

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