Norway's performances in international football have usually been weaker than those of their
Scandinavian neighbours
Sweden and
Denmark, but they did have a golden age in the late 1930s. An Olympic team achieved third place in the
1936 Summer Olympics, after beating hosts
Germany earlier in the tournament. Norway also qualified for the
1938 FIFA World Cup, where they lost 2–1 after extra time against eventual champions
Italy, with this being their last appearance until
1994. In the post-war years, up to and including the 1980s, Norway was usually considered one of the weaker teams in Europe. They never qualified for a World Cup or European Championship during this period, usually finishing near the bottom of their qualifying group. Despite this, Norway achieved victories such as a 3–0 win against
Yugoslavia in 1965, a 1–0 away win against
France in 1968, and a 2–1 victory against
England in 1981 that prompted radio commentator
Bjørge Lillelien's famous "Your boys took a hell of a beating" rant. Norway had their most successful period from 1990 to 1998 under the legendary coach
Egil "Drillo" Olsen, with the team once being
ranked No. 2. Olsen started his training career with Norway with a 6–1 home victory against
Cameroon on 31 October 1990. In
qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, Norway topped their group, finishing above the
Netherlands and England, beating both teams in the process. During the
finals in the United States, Norway was knocked out in the group stage after a win against
Mexico, a defeat against Italy and a draw against the
Republic of Ireland. Norway failed to qualify for the round of 16 as all four teams in the group finished with four points and identical goal difference. At the
1998 World Cup in France, Norway was once again eliminated by Italy in the first round of the knockout stage after finishing second in their group, having drawn against
Morocco and
Scotland and winning 2–1 against
Brazil. Former under-21 coach
Nils Johan Semb replaced Olsen after the latter's retirement. Under Semb's guidance, Norway qualified for
Euro 2000, their last major tournament appearance to date. Semb resigned at the end of an unsuccessful qualifying campaign in 2003 and was replaced by
Åge Hareide. Under Hareide, Norway came close to reaching both the
2006 World Cup and
Euro 2008, but ultimately fell short on both occasions. Norway then failed to win a single game in the entirety of 2008, with Hareide resigning at the end of the year. His replacement, initially on a temporary basis, was Olsen, who began his second spell in charge with an away win against Germany, and subsequently signed a three-year contract. Olsen resigned in September 2013 after Norway lost at home to
Switzerland and had limited chances to qualify for the
2014 World Cup with one game to spare. He was replaced with
Per-Mathias Høgmo. Olsen later claimed he was sacked. ==Team image==