About 150 members of Sporting Club Gjøa in Sunset Park gathered at their clubhouse at 850 62nd St. on June 26 to watch Norway’s final FIFA World Cup group-stage match against France. Although Norway fell to France 4-1, the Vikings advanced to the knockout stage, where they defeated Côte d’Ivoire 2-1 on Tuesday to earn a spot in the Round of 16 against Brazil.

Ahead of the June 26 game, Jimmy Svendsen, Gjøa’s youth athletic director, told Brooklyn Paper that the club was founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1911, making it one of the oldest community soccer clubs in the country. Its youth soccer program, launched in 1918, offers camps, clinics and travel soccer. This year, about 400 young people are participating in clinics and another 400 in travel soccer, while the club’s adult Sunday soccer games are more recreational.

“We’ve been having youth programs since 1920, so that’s something we’ve been doing in Brooklyn forever,” he said.
Sporting Club Gjøa was founded in 1911.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Svendsen said he was excited that both Norway and the United States had been playing well. While he would love to see the U.S. and Norway face each other in the July 19 final, he wasn’t sure it would happen.

“I think Argentina looks good, and I believe Spain — though they’re not looking great now — will pick it up,” Svendsen predicted.

However, the avid soccer fan wasn’t as confident about four-time World Cup champion Germany.

“They had a big loss yesterday. I thought they were gonna do a little better, but I wouldn’t rule them out at this point,” Svendsen said. (Germany’s World Cup run ended two days later with a stunning Round of 32 exit.)

Win or lose, he described the FIFA World Cup as the “ultimate” sporting event because it brings people together.

“I was at the Norway-Senegal game, and you have Senegalese fans and Norway fans all coming together and just being friendly and nice and calm. It’s a nice thing to see in today’s world,” Svendsen told Brooklyn Paper.

Members of Sporting Club Gjøa cheered on Norway against France in the final FIFA World Cup group-stage match.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann Members of Sporting Club Gjøa cheered on Norway against France in the final FIFA World Cup group-stage match.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Karine Rød Haraldsson, USA director of the Norwegian Seafood Council, told Brooklyn Paper that the council is the official sponsor of the Norwegian men’s national soccer team and its star striker, Erling Haaland.

The council teamed up with Norwegian cheese brand Jarlsberg to host a community soccer camp through TINE Football School in partnership with Gjøa Youth Soccer. TINE is a leading Norwegian food company owned by more than 7,000 dairy farmers across Norway.

Haraldsson said she loves the World Cup because people from around the world come together to celebrate the sport, which, she pointed out, also requires proper nutrition, including seafood, to perform at the highest level.

While she predicted Norway might lose to France, she was confident the team could advance through the knockout stage. Regardless of which teams reached the final, she hoped the players’ diet included seafood.

“If they are eating a lot of seafood — they should do that — they’ll get stronger,” Haraldsson recommended.

Svein-Egil Jørgensen, a special adviser for political affairs at TINE, said the World Cup is an important event. In addition to sponsoring the Norwegian Football Federation for more than 30 years, TINE has hosted football camps every summer for the past 28 years, serving more than 1.8 million Norwegian children.

Some current national team players attended TINE’s youth soccer camps. However, Jørgensen said the camps are not about developing elite athletes but about building community, having fun and teaching healthy eating habits.

“The idea is that we try to keep as many kids as possible as active as possible for as long as possible, and then some of them will become top athletes. But the general idea is that, of course, as a small country, we cannot lose anyone in small talent pool, but also it’s a good thing for the public health,” Jørgensen said. “So, if they get good values, they stay active, they made friends, these are all positive effects.”

He said he was dreaming of seeing Norway reach the final.

“But if not, I guess it’s going to be one of the regulars, like France or Portugal or Spain, you know, the big countries. But it’s always fun to see in the World Cup, there’s always some countries that surprise us,” he noted.

Norwegian youth soccer coaches and players Julie and William watch the game.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann Jean Bourbon rooted for France while his son Leo hoped Norway would win.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

At halftime, France led Norway 3-1. TINE Football School youth coaches William and Julie, who spent a week in Brooklyn coaching Gjøa’s youth soccer players, said they weren’t surprised by Norway’s performance.

“I’m not surprised, really, because it’s the B team of Norway. We might get a tie, but I don’t think we’re gonna win,” William said, adding that if the coach brought in Haaland for the second half, the team could still win. “I still think that Norway is going to the final; I stand by that.”

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Gjøa youth soccer player Leo Bourbon watched the match with his father, France native Jean Bourbon, who was cheering for “Les Bleus” while Leo rooted for Norway.

Jean Bourbon’s wife is Norwegian, and when they learned about Gjøa’s youth soccer club, it was almost like a dream come true, he told Brooklyn Paper.

“[At the time], there was no French soccer club — now there is. But it wasn’t just the Norwegian fact, it was the fact that the club is great at what they do, and the way they teach, and their approach to philosophy of soccer including everyone, and just letting the kids on the pitch basically decide how they play,” Jean Bourbon said, noting that the coaches use positive reinforcement instead of yelling at players.