Eight rules made Norway a winter sports superpower. Will they help at the World Cup?

Twenty years ago in Bryne, a small Norwegian city near the North Sea, a group of elementary school-age kids gathered most weekends to play pickup games at an indoor soccer field

Twenty years ago in Bryne, a small Norwegian city near the North Sea, a group of elementary school-age kids gathered most weekends to play pickup games at an indoor soccer field.

Subscribe to read this story ad-free

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

The soccer dome was often left unlocked, allowing local kids year-round opportunities to play. The kids later told researchers that they would often would break themselves into teams and imagine they were playing someplace much bigger than their hometown of about 11,000. They referred to their game as “World Cup.”

One of those kids from Bryne was a tall, blond goal-scoring whiz named Erling Haaland, who grew up to be one of the most prolific and famous goal-scorers in the world. On Tuesday, Haaland will lead Norway into the real World Cup — the country’s first appearance in 28 years.