The Norwegian Football Association also sees it as a sport’s task to put pressure on Russia. National player Mathias Normann announces a move to Moscow – and is therefore kicked out of the national team until further notice. Normann could meet two Germans in Moscow.
For the time being, there is no longer a place for Mathias Normann in the Norwegian national team. What sounds like small news in the big wide world of sport is the consequence of the clear stance of the Norwegian Football Association NFF. Because Normann said in an interview at the weekend that he would soon be moving to a club in Russia. Association president Lise Klaveness said in response that it was not the job of the NFF to comment on the national team’s choice of club – but the situation was currently exceptional. That’s why she agreed with selection coach Stale Solbakken “that Normann cannot represent Norway if he now plays for a new Russian club”.
Solbakken, who worked as a coach at 1. FC Köln in the Bundesliga from July 2011 to April 2012, informed the 26-year-old that he would not be considered for the next games. The eleven around star striker Erling Haaland will meet Slovenia and Serbia in the Nations League at the end of September. All of Norwegian and European football agrees that joint pressure must be exerted on warring Russia, Klaveness continued.
Normann has made 12 appearances for his country since making his international debut three years ago. According to Russian media reports, he recently passed the medical check at Dynamo Moscow. The transfer has not yet been confirmed by the club. The midfielder was last loaned out to England by Norwich City from Russia’s FK Rostov.
Should Normann actually make the move to Dynamo Moscow, he would also meet two of the few Germans who stayed in the country after the start of the Russian war of aggression in a capital derby. Marvin Compper took over as coach at Lokomotiv Moscow in March and defended himself against criticism that he did not want to make any political statements. “I stay completely out of politics. I started a job here that revolves around our project, the players and the team around it.” In the summer, Lok then signed Joe Zinnbauer, the former coach of Hamburger SV.
In addition, Compper indirectly criticized his predecessor Markus Gisdol, because he “don’t just run away when pressure comes from outside”. Gisdol resigned a few days after the start of the war and left the country, like Daniel Farke (then Krasnodar, now Mönchengladbach) and at the end of the season Sandro Schwarz (then Dynamo Moscow, now Hertha BSC). “For me, football coaching is the best job in the world,” Gisdol told “Bild” at the time, “but I can’t pursue my vocation in a country whose leader is responsible for a war of aggression in the middle of Europe.” For Compper – and also for Mathias Normann – this is obviously not an obstacle.
