How Norway’s moment of World Cup glory was overshadowed by an indecent video – The Athletic

This is Norway’s golden generation and tomorrow is their biggest night. Beat Estonia in Oslo and only a mathematical miracle could prevent them from qualifying for next summer’s World Cup finals ahead of Italy.

A first major tournament since 2000 is there for the taking, but on Monday evening, three days out from Estonia’s visit, Norway’s head coach, Stale Solbakken, was facing an enormous, jarring distraction.

A bombardment of questions came in the opening stages of Solbakken’s media conference, and each was focused upon his young attacker Andreas Schjelderup, who admitted over the weekend to illegally sharing an indecent video involving two boys on the Snapchat platform when he was playing for Danish club Nordsjaelland last year. “He’s done something very stupid,” accepted Solbakken.

The contents have not yet been disclosed, but Schjelderup, now a Champions League player under Jose Mourinho with Benfica, has already accepted guilt. Next Wednesday, he will appear at Copenhagen City Court to discover his punishment.

“The offence I will be convicted for does not reflect on who I am as a person and what I stand for,” a contrite Schjelderup wrote in his Instagram post, which urged others not to watch or spread videos with “harmful or offensive content”.

Schjelderup had hoped his frank admission of guilt could wait until after Norway’s crucial double-header against Estonia and Italy this week, but a youngster with only eight caps to his name has instead become the lead story.

Solbakken, who had been informed of the chain of events last Friday, insisted no disciplinary action was necessary against Schjelderup.

“He’ll get his punishment in Denmark, and that’s deserved,” Solbakken told a press conference on Monday, in comments reported by Norwegian outlet NRK. “Beyond that, why should I punish him any further? I don’t think that would be right. Even though what he did is serious enough, I’m very confident that bringing Schjelderup into the squad is the right thing to do.”

Norway head coach Stale Solbakken is standing by his player (Jonas Been Henriksen/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

The Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) is in agreement. President Lise Klaveness, a lawyer by trade, also faced the media on Monday and, following dialogue with the player’s legal representative, concluded Schjelderup need not be dropped. “We are very confident in our assessment that there should be no additional sanction,” she told broadcaster NRK.

That is not to say this episode has been digested comfortably by all in Norway. There has been intense debate over Schjelderup’s inclusion in a 24-man squad alongside acting captain and talisman Erling Haaland. Trust is needing to be placed in the judgement of Solbakken and Klaveness.

“Can we ask Ullevaal (the national team stadium) to applaud a man who, in a few weeks, will stand trial accused of sharing sexual material involving minors?” wrote Mina Finstad Berg in a column for her broadcaster, TV2. “It’s hard to imagine.”

If Schjelderup is being afforded leniency in this of all weeks, it owes much to his age and the public acceptance of his mistake. The attacking midfielder, one of the country’s most promising players, only turned 21 this summer, meaning he was 19 at the time the video was shared.

Schjelderup was considered one of the most highly rated youngsters in European football when joining Nordsjaelland from his boyhood club, Bodo/Glimt, a month after turning 16, and, in 2023, he had signed for Benfica in a deal worth £12m despite reported interest from Liverpool.

There has been Champions League football this season, most recently against Bayer Leverkusen at the start of this month, but it was during a loan back with Nordsjaelland, deemed a necessary step in his teenage development during the 2023-24 season, that Schjelderup is now known to have illegally shared an indecent video.

In a statement that ran to 578 words, posted on his Instagram stories on Saturday evening, Schjelderup admitted to forwarding a short video to his friend “without thinking clearly”, claiming only to have watched “the first few seconds”. He said it involved “what appeared to be two young men in an old quality video” and only once his friend had highlighted the dangers of sharing indecent content did Schjelderup delete it.

Solbakken and Klaveness subsequently clarified that it was a video shared on Snapchat and flagged by the platform’s filter to police in Denmark, but further details of its content have not yet been shared.

When contacted by The Athletic, the Norwegian FA referred back to Solbakken and Klaveness’ public comments in the previous days. Schjelderup’s lawyer was also asked for comment.

Schjelderup joined Benfica in 2023 (Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)

Ekstra Bladet, the Danish tabloid newspaper, has reported that court documents state the video spans 27 seconds and is considered by the authorities to be in category 2 of indecent material. That covers photographs and film of children under the age of 18 involving sexual activity. The Athletic has been unable to verify these reports.

Schjelderup’s case, which was reported as far back as June by the Danish website Bold without revealing the player’s identity, will now be heard in Copenhagen next Wednesday afternoon. What Klaveness called a “confession case” will see Schjelderup answer a charge under section 235. In his Instagram statement, he said he expects to receive a suspended sentence, with the punishment also likely to include a warning over deportation from Denmark.

Benfica will be watching next week’s events closely ahead of the player’s return to Lisbon, but like the NFF, they have made clear Schjelderup will not be penalised. He was an unused substitute on Sunday as Benfica blew a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Casa Pia. Rui Costa, elected Benfica president for the 2025 to 2029 term on Sunday, told reporters Schjelderup had their support. “Knowing him, he didn’t do it with malice,” said Costa in a press conference to mark his victory in the club’s presidential election.

It is a case that has hung heavy over Schjelderup since the summer, when he was first contacted by Danish police. This season has since brought four international caps, the most recent coming in a 5-0 win over Israel that brought Norway to the brink of the World Cup.

Schjelderup is an unlikely starter against Estonia or in the San Siro against Italy on Sunday night, where the formal celebrations of World Cup qualification are most likely to take place.

Three days later, though, Schjelderup will be in Copenhagen to discover his own, very different, fate.