Northern Ireland lost 3-0 against Norway for a 7-0 aggregate defeat in their Euro 2025 qualifying playoff.
Caroline Graham Hansen, who scored twice in the first leg, struck again before goals from Arsenal’s Frida Maanum and Atlético Madrid’s Synne Jensen completed the scoring as Norway, 16th in the Fifa rankings and 29 places above Northern Ireland, secured their progress.
Having already been beaten 4-0 at Inver Park on Friday, Northern Ireland started the night in Oslo knowing there was little prospect of going to Switzerland next year, but there was a desire to give a better account of themselves.
But Norway were quickly on the front foot and took the lead when Hansen was able to cut in from the left, wriggle away from a couple of challenges and then beat Jackie Burns with a low shot across goal – the Barcelona forward’s 50th Norway goal and 12th against Northern Ireland.
Ada Hegerberg missed a chance to add a second before Maren Mjelde crashed a shot against the crossbar following a corner, with Burns denying Maanum from the rebound.
The chances kept coming as Ingrid Syrstad Engen bent a shot on to the post, but Northern Ireland made it to the break only 1-0 down. However, Norway needed less than two minutes of the second half to double their lead with Maanum nicking the ball off Rebecca McKenna inside the box and squeezing a shot in at the near post.
The third came in the 79th minute with the help of a deflection. Jensen, on as a Norway substitute, burst forward on a counterattack and cut inside to hit a shot which deflected off McKenna to loop over the helpless Burns.
Poland repeated their first-leg 1-0 win to beat Austria 2-0 on aggregate, with an injury-time goal from Ewa Pajor sealing their place in Switzerland next summer.
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At the AGC Arena in Teplice, Diana Silva scored twice for Portugal to give them a 2-1 win against the Czech Republic, and saw them through 3-2 on aggregate.