Martin Odegaard has flown to Norway to join his national team squad for the November break, but he won’t be involved on the pitch.
Simon Collings reports for The Standard that Martin Odegaard is joining up with the Norway squad this week to support his international teammates in their World Cup qualifiers against Estonia and Italy.
Odegaard won’t play a part on the pitch, and he’ll continue his injury rehabilitation with the national team while supporting them in a non-playing capacity.
The midfielder did the same thing during the last break, supporting Norway to a win over Israel and celebrating with the squad in the dressing room despite only recently suffering his knee injury.
Tom Canton reports for Football.London that Odegaard has already flown out to join up with Norway, ruling him out of playing for Arsenal in an international break friendly or the u21 EFL Trophy game against Cardiff City on Tuesday night.
Speaking ahead of the break, Norway boss Stale Solbakken suggested that Odegaard probably would want to join the squad despite his injury.
“We haven’t discussed it much, but Martin probably has a strong desire to be in the group,” Solbakken said then. “And then we’ll see what we can agree on there.”
This is a big week for Norway, as they face Estonia and Italy in the final two group games of their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign. A win over Estonia would all but confirm qualification, as Norway’s goal difference is far superior to Italy’s.
But if Italy win against Moldova, top spot in the group and automatic qualification won’t be mathematically confirmed until after the game between Italy and Norway on November 16th.
The group runner-up will play a play-off for one final chance at qualification.