‘To be captain here is something I’m really proud of – for this amazing club, this amazing team and this amazing manager’ Martin Odegaard on wearing the Arsenal armband

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The Norwegian was named Arsenal club captain ahead of the 2022/23 season

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard gestures during a Premier League match, December 2022
Martin Odegaard was handed the armband in 2022 (Image credit: Alamy)

When Martin Odegaard was handed the captain’s armband at the start of the 2022/23 season, he joined a roll call of some of the best leaders English football has ever seen.

The likes of Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry are just some of the more modern examples, each showing how the role of captaincy means more than just seniority.

Odegaard’s style of leadership is not as blood and thunder as an Adams, or a Vieira, but is instead more about leading by example.

Odegaard on the honour of captaining Arsenal

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is looking over his shoulder at the Emirates

Odegaard has led Arsenal to three straight second place finishes in the Premier League (Image credit: Getty Images)

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta - who himself wore the club’s armband between 2014 and 2016 - once described Odegaard as the perfect Arsenal captain, something that the 27-year-old acknowledges with his trademark modesty.

“I don’t know,” he smiles when reminded of this by FourFourTwo.

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“That’s probably a question for him. But of course, I’m happy he said that. To be named captain means I must be doing something right, that he’s happy with the way I’m doing things.

“That’s a really nice thing to hear.”

Arsenal have secured second-place Premier League finishes in each of the three seasons Odegaard has skippered the side under Arteta, with the former Real Madrid man acting as the coach’s on-pitch avatar, setting the tone and embodying his philosophy.

“To be captain here is something I’m really proud of – for this amazing club, this amazing team and this amazing manager,” Odegaard adds.

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

Odegaard also captains his country (Image credit: Alamy)

The midfielder doesn’t just wear the armband for his club, but also his country, who he has led to their first World Cup in 28 years.

“And also for Norway,” he adds. “It wasn’t something I was pushing hard for. It just happened naturally, and because of that, it has felt easier to do.”

Norway will face Senegal, France and play-off winner in the group stage in North America in the summer, with Odegaard hoping to have added a Premier League title to his CV by then.

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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