Scottish photographer David Yarrow has turned his lens on the Norwegian men’s national soccer team ahead of their appearance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Titled The Vikings are Coming (2026), the large-format photograph captures the Norwegian men’s national soccer squad dressed as Viking warriors beside a fjord. It features the full squad—including Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard—posing with longships, weapons, and storm-gray Nordic light. The Viking longships were reportedly sourced by the Norwegian Football Association.
The project has roots in a 2023 solo shoot in which Yarrow photographed Haaland alone, waist-deep in an Oslo fjord, in full Viking dress. Having developed a rapport with the photographer, Haaland pushed for a full squad follow-up as part of Norway’s World Cup preparations. Odegaard, occupied with Arsenal's Champions League final, was photographed separately and composited into the image shortly after.
“If you had to choose one sportsperson in the world that doesn’t need much hair and makeup to look like a Viking, it’s Erling Haaland,” Yarrow told BBC Sport. “And so it was easy to shoot with him.”
Maradona, 1986
David Yarrow
Hilton Contemporary
Yarrow, who first came to prominence with his iconic 1986 photograph of Diego Maradona lifting the World Cup trophy at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico, drew a deliberate parallel to his Ryder Cup shoot last year. In that photograph, Team Europe posed in prohibition-era suits before the Manhattan Bridge, and the work went on to raise over $1 million for Irish charities. The Norway print will fundraise for Norwegian charities and hang at the squad’s World Cup base in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In the interview with the BBC, Yarrow said it was important not to allow any major figure, such as Odegaard and Haaland, to dominate the shoot. “The one thing that was important about that picture,” he said. “In the Norwegian squad, you’ve got someone that’s worth £200 million ($267 million) and [a]goalkeeper that’s worth £250,000 ($333,881)…that they both occupy the same amount of the frame,” he noted.
Yarrow’s prints sell through galleries worldwide, including Hilton Contemporary in Chicago, Maddox Gallery in London, and Carousel Fine Art across the U.S. A selection of prints from the shoot will be exhibited and made available through Yarrow’s gallery partners later this year.
For Norway’s team, the image is a statement of intent. The national team has spent years on the fringes of major tournaments despite boasting a generation of talented players. This is the first World Cup Norway has participated in since 1998.
