Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

The Guardian - UK

Sport

John Ashdown and Rich Flower

Football quiz: Norwegian footballers in England and Scotland in 1998

Lars Bohinen, Harald Brattbakk and Jostein Flo in their pomp. Composite: Action Images; Colorsport/Shutterstock

Which Tottenham goalkeeper captained Norway's 1998 World Cup side?
1. Espen Baardsen
2. Erik Thorstvedt
3. Thomas Myhre
4. Frode Grodås
Which former player, signed by Liverpool in 1998, took a break from his salmon fishing business and travelled to Istanbul to watch the 2005 Champions League final while wearing a Liverpool tracksuit?
1. Vegard Heggem
2. Øyvind Leonhardsen
3. Frode Kippe
4. Bjørn Tore Kvarme
Which member of the boys of 1998 retired from football in 2003 at the age of 25, saying: “Once you've played in the Premier League and been to the World Cup, you've seen it and done it … I felt unsatisfied intellectually, I wanted to travel the world”?
1. Eirik Bakke
2. Erik Nevland
3. Espen Baardsen
4. Steffen Iversen
Who was the only Norwegian on the pitch when Paolo Di Canio shoved over referee Paul Alcock in September 1998?
1. Petter Rudi
2. Tore Pedersen
3. Egil Ostenstad
4. Jon Olav Hjelde
Why did Lars Bohinen, who turned out for Blackburn and Derby in 1998, refuse to play for Norway against France in July 1995?
1. He had fallen out with Erland Johnsen
2. He was protesting against French nuclear tests in the South Pacific
3. He was told he had to have his mane of luscious hair cut
4. He was dating the daughter of France manager Aime Jacquet and felt it was a “conflict of interest”
How many members of the Flo family were part of the 1998 World Cup squad?
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
Who finished their career with the most caps?
1. Henning Berg
2. Tore Andre Flo
3. Alf Inge Haaland
4. Roger Nilsen
Liverpool legend Stig Inge Bjørnebye’s wife has an Olympic silver medal in which event?
1. Tennis
2. Biathlon
3. Football
4. Handball
While at Chelsea in 1997 Frode Grodas was refused permission to add what to his house, one local resident saying: “This is a highly sought-after location. We don't want someone rolling up and making it look like some kind of gypsy encampment”?
1. A swimming pool
2. An extension in the shape of a goalkeeping glove
3. A satellite dish
4. A shed
Which of these players never scored an international hat-trick?
1. Gunnar Halle
2. Jan Åge Fjørtoft
3. Øyvind Leonhardsen
4. Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Vidar Riseth is best known for his post World Cup 1998-2000 spell with Celtic – but which other British club had he earlier featured for?
1. Leicester
2. Luton
3. Liverpool
4. Llandudno
Which 1998 Wimbledon player’s appointment as Wolves manager in 2012 was greeted by defender Roger Johnson saying “I don't know who the guy is to be honest”?
1. Andreas Lund
2. Ståle Solbakken
3. Øyvind Leonhardsen
4. Petter Rudi
Which Premier League club had three players in Norway's 1998 World Cup squad?
1. Manchester United
2. Liverpool
3. Tottenham
4. Leeds
In which sport did future Sheffield United striker Jostein Flo come within 16cm of the Norwegian record of in 1983?
1. High jump
2. Long jump
3. Curling
4. Ski jump
For what is former Celtic striker Harald Brattbakk is best remembered at Parkhead?
1. Missing from a yard our in the final minute of a 0-0 Old Firm derby draw at Ibrox
2. Scoring all four goals in a Champions League win over Benfica
3. Scoring in the final-day win over St Johnstone in 1998 that prevented Rangers from winning a 10th successive title
4. Breaking up an on-pitch brawl between Morten Wieghorst and Regi Blinker

Solutions

1:D - Grodås joined Spurs from Chelsea in January 1998 and failed to make an appearance before heading to Schalke in the summer., 2:A - Heggem’s other claim to fame? He was the only signing made while Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier were joint managers., 3:C - “It was in a Tesco in Sheffield that I reached my lowest point,” said Baardsen in 2008. “I went into Neil Warnock's office to negotiate my wages and he offered me less than what a tube driver earns. I turned it down. I was young and had my life to lead, and that didn't have to be in football.”, 4:A - The Sheffield Wednesday midfielder was in fact the closest player to his teammate when the fateful shove took place., 5:B - The eco-friendly playmaker escaped punishment, though, and was back in the starting lineup for the next game, 6:C - Chelsea's Tor Andre, former Sheffield United striker Jostein, and future Wolves man Havard all made the cut, 7:A - Berg’s 100 caps put him third on the all-time list behind Thorbjørn Svenssen and John Arne Riise., 8:D - Hege Frøseth was the goalkeeper in the Norwegian handball team that took silver at Barcelona 1992, 9:C - Although a goalkeeping-glove-shaped extension would probably have been more fun. , 10:D - Solskjær scored more goals – 23 in 67 internationals – than the other three but never scored three in a game. Halle did so against San Marino in a 10-0 win in 1992, while Leonhardsen bagged all three in a 3-0 away win over Bermuda in the same year., 11:B - “Vidar was here for three months after I arrived and was sub a couple of times but he wanted to go home,” said Luton manager Lennie Lawrence of Riseth’s brief loan spell at Kenilworth Road in 1995-96. “The players didn’t like him, and he didn’t like them. There was no chance of it working.”, 12:B - “Seriously, I don't know who he is,” added Ronald Zubar of the former Copenhagen and Cologne manager. “The man is a winner,” cheered Wolves chairman Steve Morgan. Solbakken lasted eight months at the club, his biggest impact at Molineux the hole he punched in a dugout during a game against Brighton., 13:A - Ronny Johnsen, Henning Berg and Ole Gunnar Solskjær all featured for Egil Olsen’s side. Tottenham and Liverpool both had two, while Leeds, Everton, Southampton and Chelsea had one, 14:A - As an 18-year-old, Flo came second in a youth tournament having jumped 2.06m, a mere 16cm shy of Terje Totland’s national record and a jump that placed him inside the top 30 on the Norwegian all-time list., 15:C - These days Brattbakk is a pilot. “As achievements go, that was definitely the highlight of my career,” he says. The stakes were so incredibly high and every time I look back on that day, I’m just so happy to have been a part of it. Flying is great, but you can never compete with the kind of joy football gives you on days like that.”