The Norwegian men’s national team returned to Oslo on Monday to a reception that rewrote the script of a World Cup exit. An estimated 90,000 to 100,000 supporters packed the square outside the Royal Palace and lined the capital’s main thoroughfare, Karl Johans gate, transforming the disappointment of a 2-1 extra-time quarter-final defeat to England into a carnival of national pride. King Harald V received the squad at the palace, and Crown Prince Haakon, who had travelled to Miami for the match, led the crowd in the now-familiar “Viking row” by beating a drum on the palace steps, a ritual that had become the team’s signature during the tournament.

The celebration honoured a campaign that exceeded all expectations. Norway, appearing at the finals for the first time in 28 years, topped a group containing Senegal and France, then delivered the shock of the round of 16 by eliminating five-time champions Brazil 2-1, with Erling Haaland scoring both goals. The run ended in Miami when Jude Bellingham’s extra-time strike sent England through, but the squad had already secured the country’s best-ever World Cup finish. Captain Martin Ødegaard, speaking to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, described the support as “incredible” and said the team could feel the whole country behind them.

Yet the image that dominated global social media was not of the massed crowds or the royal drumming, but of Haaland descending the aircraft steps at Gardermoen Airport clutching a taxidermy raccoon that held a whiskey bottle. The 25-year-old Manchester City striker, who scored seven goals in five matches, had purchased the $750 “Whiskey Raccoon” at Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas during the tournament, along with cowboy boots, a hat bearing his initials, and other curiosities. “It followed me home,” he joked on Instagram, where the post drew over six million likes in under 24 hours. The store, a family-run Dallas institution, reported a surge in international orders—around 30 percent from outside the United States—and quickly sold out of the raccoon, while Haaland polled his followers to name the animal, offering options such as “Cowboy,” “Ranger,” and “R.O.W.”

Haaland’s absence from the public festivities was itself a minor subplot. A four-hour delay in the team’s departure from the US meant he and teammate Sander Berge had to leave the palace reception early to catch a connecting flight to a holiday in Sicily, missing the Viking row and the open-top bus parade that crawled through streets so packed that the vehicle was forced to reverse at one point. Coach Ståle Solbakken confirmed the logistical squeeze, while Norwegian media noted that the striker had initially considered skipping the homecoming altogether before being persuaded to attend the royal audience.

Viewed from Oslo, the tournament marks a turning point for Norwegian football, with a generation led by Haaland and Ødegaard delivering a performance that captured the public imagination far beyond the Scandinavian peninsula. The team’s next competitive challenge will be to convert this breakthrough into sustained success in European qualifying, but for now, the image of a Viking row led by a crown prince and a striker carrying a stuffed raccoon has already entered World Cup lore.