Soccer-Norway's Hegerberg seeks to inspire as Euros enter knockout phase

Soccer Football - UEFA Women's Euro 2025 - Group A - Switzerland v Norway - St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland - July 2, 2025 Norway's Ada Hegerberg scores their first goal REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

NEUCHATEL, Switzerland (Reuters) -The women's game has come a long way since the last time Norway played a knockout game at the Euros, agonisingly losing the 2013 final 1-0 to Germany with a callow, 18-year-old Ada Hegerberg, now team captain, starting up front.

At that tournament in Sweden, a combined total of 28,814 spectators saw Norway's group games, a number dwarfed by the 34,063 who saw their 2025 opener, a 2-1 win over hosts Switzerland in which Hegerberg equalised with a bullet header, and the 30-year-old has played a greater role than most in the growth of the game.