The result of the quarterfinal was decided after extra time, but the debate that followed centred on a single moment late in the first half. England's Jude Bellingham equalised in the second minute of stoppage time, ultimately forcing extra time where his second goal sent England through 2-1. Norway's players and bench immediately protested, convinced the goal should not have stood because the ball had deflected off a Spidercam cable.

The sequence began with a long clearance from Norwegian goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland. As the ball descended, its trajectory appeared to change sharply, and it dropped directly to England's Elliot Anderson just outside the Norway penalty area. Within seconds, England moved the ball forward and Bellingham finished coolly. Norwegian players, including Nyland, Erling Haaland, and coach Ståle Solbakken, pointed to the overhead camera wire and remonstrated with French referee Clément Turpin, but play continued.

FIFA swiftly issued a technical explanation. The governing body stated that the sensor in the "Connected Ball" recorded no spike in its internal metrics while the ball was airborne, and therefore there was "no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball." Under Law 8, any contact with an external object requires a stoppage and a dropped ball, but the officials judged no such interference occurred. It remained unclear whether VAR was formally consulted. The sensor had earlier been decisive in ruling out a Croatian goal for a fractional offside, illustrating its sensitivity.

Solbakken, speaking post-match, rejected the FIFA conclusion, asserting, "I think it's pretty clear that it did [hit the cable]." He added that the referee told him he saw nothing and received no message. The Norwegian camp, including captain Martin Ødegaard, expressed frustration, with Ødegaard claiming the referee offered no help. Alfie Haaland, the father of striker Erling, took to social media to accuse the officials of "robbing" his son's team. Yet Solbakken also refused to dwell: "I can sit here and cry but I don't want to do that. We have done everything we could." The incident, dubbed "Cablegate" by parts of the international press, highlighted the friction between human perception and sensor data.

England advanced to a semifinal, while Norway exited at the same stage they reached in 1998, their best run. The controversy, though unlikely to prompt a replay, will sharpen debate over the limits of technology in officiating subjective, real-world anomalies.