Ada Hegerberg named in Norway squad for Euro 2022 after five-year international absence
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Updated 07/06/2022 at 11:55 GMT
Norway's Euro 2022 chances have been given a big boost as Ada Hegerberg has been named in the 23-player squad for the tournament. Hegerberg, who won the Champions League with Lyon this season, only recently returned to international football after five years away due to frustrations with how women's football was treated in Norway.
Ada Hegerberg of Olympique Lyonnais celebrates after scoring her sides first goal during the UEFA Women's Champions League final match between FC Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais at Juventus Stadium on May 21, 2022 in Turin, Italy.
Image credit: Getty Images
Lyon forward Ada Hegerberg will play her first major international tournament in five years after being named in Norway's squad for Euro 2022.
The 26-year-old stepped away from international duty in 2017 due to frustrations with the way women's football was regarded in Norway.
She missed the 2019 World Cup, when Norway lost in the quarter-finals to England, and said the treatment of women's football left her "mentally broken”.
But she returned for Norway in April, scoring a hat-trick against Kosovo, and is part of the 23-player squad for Euro 2022, which will be played in England in July.
Hegerberg’s inclusion will be a huge boost for Norway’s chances.
She has won the Women’s Champions League six times, scoring and assisting in this year’s final to help Lyon beat Barcelona, and won the inaugural Women's Ballon d'Or in 2018.
She said recently that the election of Lise Klaveness as president of the Norwegian football federation convinced her to return.
"I felt like I was growing a lot during those talks, but I felt that it was the right time to go back and play for my country again," Hegerberg told CNN.
"I really believe that Lise can be a very important figure and position to kind of shake up things still so that young girls can be taken better care of for the future. I would absolutely back her all the way in order to drive women's football into the right direction. So it feels very good."
Chelsea defender Maren Mjelde will captain Norway, while club team-mate Guro Reiten is also in the squad.
Mjelde has only recently returned from a long-term absence due to a knee injury and Norway manager Martin Sjogren said: "She and we will do everything we can to get her ready to play the matches both before and during the championship.
“We hope and believe that she will be ready."
Norway are in Group A hosts England, Northern Ireland and Austria. Their first game is on July 7 against Northern Ireland.
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