The Norwegian national team, returning to the World Cup after a 28-year hiatus, faced the Iraqi team this week within the group stage of DÇ-2026.
The match, held in Boston, USA, one of the host countries of the championship, ended with Norway's 4:1 victory.
Two of the goals were scored by Norway's star forward Erling Haaland.
According to Medianews.az, NORSAR, an organization monitoring earthquakes and nuclear explosions in Norway, stated that every time Erling Haaland scored a goal, the ground in the city of Bergen literally trembled.
The Norway-Iraq game started in Boston at 18:00 local time on June 16. At that time, it was midnight (24:00) in Norway. The first goal was scored in the 29th minute, meaning on the night of June 18 according to Norwegian time, by Haaland. Ten minutes later, the Iraqi national team equalized. However, in the 43rd minute, Haaland scored another goal, putting Norway ahead again. In the second half, two more goals went past the Iraqi goalkeeper (one headed in by Leo Østigård after a corner kick, and the other was an own goal), leading to a decisive victory for Norway.
Although the match took place late at night, this did not prevent thousands of fans in the city of Bergen in the Vestland county on Norway’s west coast from following the game.
According to NORSAR, especially at the moments when Erling Haaland scored, fans jumped with such joy that seismic equipment recorded tremors on the ground. Later, NORSAR experts learned that the signals recorded coincided exactly with the moments Haaland scored goals and concluded that these tremors were not caused by underground activity but by surface factors, meaning they were not earthquakes.
Norway's next World Cup match will be against Senegal on June 23.
The Norwegian national team previously participated in the World Cup in 1998. In that tournament, they defeated Brazil 2:1 in the last group stage game to advance to the next round. However, they left the championship after losing 0:1 to Italy in the round of 16.
Erling Haaland was born two years after that championship, in 2000, in the city of Leeds, England, to a football family. His father formerly played for the Norwegian national team and in the English Premier League.
Erling Haaland began his professional career at Norway's "Bryne" club. He later played for Norway's "Molde", Austria's "Red Bull Salzburg," and Germany's "Borussia Dortmund" teams.
In 2022, the forward transferred to England's "Manchester City" club, rapidly becoming one of the world’s renowned footballers.
Currently, Erling Haaland is the forward for both the Norway national team and the "Manchester City" club.