Alfred Fidjestøl, Erik Thorstvedt and Egil Østenstad on the Norwegian national team, World Cup stories and World Cup preparations before departure.
We warm up for the World Cup with the national team’s own biographer Alfred Fidjestøl, before he sets course for the USA, Mexico and Canada to follow the team in this year’s World Cup. Fidjestøl’s book Oppstandelsen has recently received superlative reviews as one of the best works written about football in Norwegian, and follows closely Ståle Solbakken and the rest of the team’s journey towards the World Cup.
With him are two legends of Norwegian football: Viking’s (and Torvastad’s!) own Egil Østenstad and Viking’s (and Madla’s!) own Erik Thorstvedt, both of whom are heading to the World Cup for work. Thorstvedt as a journalist for TV2, 22 years after he represented Norway at the 1994 World Cup in the USA, and Østenstad to follow Braut, 18 years after he nearly played against Brazil in France in 1998. This will be a great evening for football, Egil!
Alfred Fidjestøl:
Alfred Fidjestøl (b. 1973) is a Bergen-based philosopher and author, and has published a number of critically acclaimed biographies and works of history. He has written about figures such as Drillo, Georg Johannesen and the chimpanzee Julius. He has also written about the Arts Council, the Norwegian Theatre, and now the Norwegian national team’s road to the World Cup. In 2014, Fidjestøl became the first non-fiction author ever to win the Sult Prize. In 2017 he received the Language Council’s language prize for outstanding use of Norwegian in non-fiction.
Erik Thorstvedt:
Goalkeeping legend; Madla, Viking, Tottenham and the Norwegian national team. He made his debut for Norway against Kuwait in 1982 (0–1) and retired due to back problems in 1996. Author of the anecdote book Helt bak mål (1987), and now a media personality and football expert. He is travelling to the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada as a commentator and expert for TV2.
Egil Østenstad:
Striker legend for Viking, Southampton and Norway. He played one match against Scotland during the 1998 World Cup, and later became sporting director at Viking after retiring. Østenstad now works as a financial advisor for Erling Braut Haaland.