{"id":524216,"date":"2026-07-04T01:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/524216\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T01:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:53:21","slug":"bigger-than-football-norway-fans-viking-row-makes-waves-at-world-cup-norway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/524216\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bigger than football\u2019: Norway fans\u2019 Viking row makes waves at World Cup | Norway"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fans have done it, in their thousands, in the stadiums. The players have done it<\/a> on the pitch. Pretty much anyone who was there did it in New York\u2019s Times Square<\/a>. Norwegian MPs did it in parliament<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prince Sverre Magnus, third in line to the Norwegian throne, rowed in an Oslo subway carriage<\/a>. Care home residents in their 90s rowed in rural Norway and Norwegian Royal Air Force pilots rowed in their F-35 fighter jets.<\/p>\n

Forget the Icelandic thunderclap<\/a> that took over the 2016 European championships. The Viking row, the synchronised rowing chant that accompanies the Norwegian football team\u2019s appearances, is the viral phenomenon of the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n

When their team advanced to the last 16 this week, its best World Cup run since 1998, the hordes of jubilant supporters rowing en masse in Oslo and Bergen produced so much sound that seismologists recorded an earthquake<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is bigger than football,\u201d Norway\u2019s star striker Erling Haaland posted<\/a> alongside a clip of the squad rowing after their win over C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. He told reporters: \u201cSeeing thousands rowing with you, you feel the energy. It gives you goosebumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The captain, Martin \u00d8degaard, who led the squad row with a drum grabbed from the stands, said<\/a> seeing a whole section of the stadium rowing \u201cmakes you realise you aren\u2019t just 11 guys on the pitch \u2013 you\u2019re a whole crew. It\u2019s an unbelievable feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The action, which generally starts with the blowing of a Viking horn, involves sitting down as if in a longboat and \u2013 to an accelerating drumbeat \u2013 drawing an imaginary oar though water while chanting \u201cRo\u201d (Norwegian for \u201crow\u201d).<\/p>\n

Unlike most football chants, whose precise origins are often impossible to determine, Norway\u2019s Viking row was consciously devised, carefully rehearsed and massively promoted online.<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland (front) and teammates do the Viking row after Norway\u2019s 2-1 win against C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire in Dallas. Photograph: Christian Brunskill\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Ole Fr\u00f8ystad, a primary school teacher now proudly known on social media as mr.row.row<\/a>, came up with the idea after remembering the rhythmic \u201cRO-SEN-BORG\u201d chant that rings round the stadium of the Norwegian football club Rosenborg BK.<\/p>\n

\u201cRo\u201d, he thought, sounded just like \u201crow\u201d. From there, it was simple. \u201cI\u2019m like, that\u2019s exactly what the Vikings did. They rowed into battle,\u201d Fr\u00f8ystad \u2013 who is staying in the US for however long Norway remain in the competition \u2013 told ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took in their sails, they put out their oars and they rode into shore \u2026 it was just like a lightbulb. With the movement and the way we move the body, it\u2019s going to be like a wave at the stadium. It\u2019s going to be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Viking row during the group-stage match against France at Boston Stadium. Photograph: Mark Stockwell\/AP<\/p>\n

Fr\u00f8ystad, who had been looking for a chant that was \u201cshort, easy, had culture in it and would have a massive impact\u201d, took the plan to Torstein Hamran, a leading member of the Norwegian supporters\u2019 club Oljeberget, who loved it too.<\/p>\n

Hamran and other supporters tried it out in a stadium in March but realised it needed more work. In the run-up Norway\u2019s last friendly before the World Cup, against Sweden, they posted videos on social media<\/a> showing how to do it.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00f8ystad posted a video from that game to his Instagram account, where it has since garnered more than 38m views and almost 3m likes. \u201cThat\u2019s when I realised this is going to be insane,\u201d he told ESPN.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s football team began adopting Viking imagery in 2023 when the players began sporting shirts with their names in runic script. For the 2026 World Cup, their official team photo<\/a> shows them in leather and furs, holding shields and swords.<\/p>\n

A Viking row at Roskilde music festival as fans watch the match against C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. Photograph: Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Not everyone is impressed<\/a>, with some noting that the Vikings\u2019 reputation is primarily for looting, pillaging and general brutality. Janne Stigen Drangsholt, an Aftenposten<\/a> columnist, criticised an unhealthy \u201cmasculinity aesthetic\u201d and \u201ctoxic, rather laddish vibe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another commentator, Hans Petter Sj\u00f8li, told NRK<\/a> it was all \u201ca little too loud and Disney-like for us Norwegians\u201d.<\/p>\n

Others have expressed concern about the use of Norse imagery, noting that in Scandinavia Norse symbolism is now associated with far-right, nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s neighbours have complained that they were Vikings too. \u201cWe just sigh when we see it,\u201d the Sweden defender Gustaf Lagerbielke said. \u201cBut maybe we\u2019re sighing more at the TV crews that zoom in on it every time. But whatever floats your boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin \u00d8degaard bangs a drum on the pitch to lead a Viking row. Photograph: Tim Heitman\/IMAGN Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Swedish historians have highlighted a glaring historical inaccuracy: it was eastern Vikings, mainly from modern-day Sweden, who were famous for river and coastal rowing, while western Vikings, from Norway, were the great transatlantic sailors.<\/p>\n

So the Norwegians are celebrating their football team\u2019s performances by imitating Swedish Vikings, Stockholm pundits argue. Be that as it may, the chant has won over many Norwegians, who have posted countless videos of themselves rowing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Norwegian tourism bosses hail attention that money cannot buy, the MP M\u00edmir Kristj\u00e1nsson dismissed the criticism as \u201cabsurd\u201d, insisting \u201cNazis don\u2019t own Thor, Odin or Valhalla\u201d and that \u201cNorway must bring its own culture\u201d to the World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The speaker of Norway\u2019s parliament, Masud Gharahkhani, who organised the mass parliamentary row, said it was \u201cfor love and to show our support for the team, which we are really proud of \u2026 we\u2019re a country of 5.6 million people. This is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n