ULLEVAAL STADION (Dagbladet): After Martin Sjögren was sacked as national team manager following a huge disappointment at EC, Hege Riise was presented on Wednesday afternoon as the Swede’s heir to a press conference in the national team arena.

After a longer session in which president of football Lise Klaveness and, in part, top-flight football manager Truls Dæhli confirmed the choice and entered the recruitment process, Riise took to the podium along with his new team of coaches.

– It tastes really good. I can’t wait to let it go, the humble 53-year-old said to Dagbladet, after he lost his mind. Moments earlier, he had described leading the Norwegian national team as the “biggest thing”.

Riise is the person registered with the most games for the Norwegian national team, a total of 188, and after he retired as a player, he has made a name for himself in the coaching profession.

A few years ago, she had great success with Lillestrm, before she recently won silver in the EC with the Norwegian women’s U-19 national team.

Felt with Sjøgren

As is well known, EC in the UK is a huge disappointment for Norwegian girls. The play-offs started well with a 4-1 win over Northern Ireland, before a humiliating 8-0 loss to the host nation was a fact. In the end, Austria sent Norway out of the championship with a 1-0 win.

After the England and Austria match, the clearly marked Sjøgren met the media house in the interview zone.

– It’s not easy to put this into words. I feel bad for the players. We had a good feeling before the game and thought we had a good plan. “We played well in the first 10 minutes, but the last 80 was more or less terrible,” he told the assembled press corps.

Riise said that she felt for the Swede.

– Very. It is difficult to live this profession. You get a little lonely. It’s not fun for players or coaches.

– Did you talk to Sjøgren afterward?

– Not yet.

– But you’re going to make a phone call?

– Yes, I’m no stranger to talking to Martin. I had many conversations with him. “I feel I know him well enough to be able to do that,” said the new national team coach, adding that so far he had not been able to speak to any of the players either.

Dagbladet has tried to contact several Norwegian national team players for comment on Riise’s work – so far to no avail. Sjøgren also did not answer our questions.

– Good feeling

Klaveness didn’t want to comment to Dagbladet when they first contacted Riise about coaching work, but the protagonist himself poked him a bit.

– Not long ago I got a request if I was interested in receiving some calls. There may be more people getting it, but at least I said “yes” to it. Then through the employment committee, with whom I received good feedback, Riise said.

Klaveness confirmed at a press conference that they had several candidates on the block, before eventually going for the former LSK coach.

Riise simply answered “no” to the question of whether she had any other offers on the table.

Klaveness believes they have found the right type of coach.

– It’s a very good feeling. It’s been a lot of work, even though we knew we’d be going here. It feels right to have such a very experienced team. Now we will attack a world in motion, said the football president.

Riise has Ingvild Stensland, Monica Knudsen and Jon Knudsen on the coaching team.