“I am shocked, this is a dream come true.” Those were the words of a 15-year-old Odegaard after receiving a landmark call-up to his senior national team.<\/p>\n
Born in Drammen, the son of professional footballer Hans Erik Odegaard, Martin was never in doubt about playing the beautiful game.<\/p>\n
“My parents have told me that from the moment I could walk,” Martin told us back in 2021. <\/p>\n
“I started to kick a ball in the garden at home. So I don’t remember a time that I haven’t had an interest in football. My father played as well of course, so it was always around me. Then growing up all my friends played as well, we all had the same interests, so it was just natural that I started playing too.”<\/p>\n
The world started to take notice of a talented teen, who played a friendly for Str\u00f8msgodset at just 13 before making his competitive debut in April 2014, aged 15 years and 118 days. One of those was then-Norway head coach, Per-Mathias H\u00f8gmo, who selected him as part of his summer squad.<\/p>\n
Stavanger was the setting and Martin’s name was on the teamsheet from the start. Not just playing a bit part, Odegaard would end up staying on for the full 90 minutes on a record-breaking afternoon on the southern tip of Norway in front of 7,611 spectators.<\/p>\n
Recalling the experience in the Players’ Tribune, \u00a0Martin said: \u00a0“When I was 15, I became the youngest player to play for the Norway national team. That\u2019s when things really went crazy.”<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Immediately following the match, the spotlight was on Martin. <\/p>\n “I’m really proud to have made my senior debut. It’s been a dream for a long time to play for Norway,” Martin said following the match.<\/p>\n “I was shocked when the coach (Per-Mathias H\u00f8gmo) told me that I would start the game, but I was very happy. <\/p>\n “All I want to do is play football. I was close to scoring but didn’t quite reach a cross in the first half. I was surprised to start, and even more surprised when I got to play the full 90 minutes.”<\/p>\n It’s safe to say, H\u00f8gmo was impressed with the contribution of the starlet. “Martin played a good game. He created some openings that could have tipped the game in our favour and showed some of the qualities in attacking areas that we know he has.”<\/p>\n One of his team mates on the pitch that day was former Blackburn Rovers star, Morten Gamst Pedersen. After the game, he said: “For his age he is unbelievable — his knowledge of the game is unbelievable and his technical skills are fantastic. <\/p>\n “You have to realise he is only 15 years old and he needs time to build up his physique but the potential is unbelievable. I have never seen a player with so much potential. I told him I would give him advice but that the most important thing is he enjoys his football and gets better. <\/p>\n “The best thing of all is he is a really nice lad – he’s down to earth and that will help him a lot wherever he ends up.”<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n It only took another 47 days for Martin to break his next record, becoming the youngest player to appear in a UEFA qualifier when he came on for Mats M\u00f8ller D\u00e6hli against Bulgaria in the 64th minute.<\/p>\n “It was special,” Martin told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang after the game, “I think it went great today and we got the three points, that’s the most important.”<\/p>\n Speaking about that experience in the Players’ Tribune in February 2023, Martin realised this was the moment his career was about to go stratospheric.<\/p>\n “I remember coming on for the last 20 minutes of a Euro 2016 qualifier against Bulgaria at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and the whole stadium, more than 20,000 people, going mad. Every time I touched the ball, they cheered. I can still hear that sound. <\/p>\n “The thing is, in Norway, we hadn\u2019t had a \u201csuperstar\u201d in such a long time that the fans were a little desperate and when they started hearing this talk about this young guy from Drammen, they just wanted to believe it, even if they didn’t actually know if I was any good. It added to this strange hype. <\/p>\n “And then the hype just builds more hype, and suddenly you\u2019re linked with Real Madrid.”<\/p>\n While game time in Madrid was in short supply, his move to N5 in 2021, something he came close to doing as a teenager, would kick-start a series of events that would one day lead to him becoming a Premier League winner and helping Norway qualify for the World Cup.<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Over a year before becoming our full-time captain, \u00a0Martin was taking on the same responsibility with his country, taking on the armband in March 2021.<\/p>\n Norway manager, St\u00e5le Solbakken, made the decision in his very first squad and his opinion was clear: \u201cHe was chosen by me after a review with the support staff and coaches, and then there was a feeling I had after conversations with players. We think Martin has lived a long life already in European football.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin said at the time: \u201cIt is big. Being captain of Norway is one of the absolute greatest things you can experience. If St\u00e5le has chosen me in that role, it is because he feels that I am doing something right. It comes with an extra responsibility both on and off the field. I\u2019m ready to take that.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision was a popular one, with our number 8 being showered in praise. <\/p>\n \u201cA fantastic guy who really deserves the captaincy role,” defender Kristoffer Ajer said.<\/p>\n \u201cMartin is a fantastic player and boy, always gives 100 per cent and is very well liked in the group. Top choice,” goalkeeper Rune Jarstein added. \u201cHe has shown that he has an ability to be a team player on and off the field, and he has a strong character \u2013 and he has all the prerequisites to become a good captain for Norway.\u201d<\/p>\n Four years into his national team captaincy, Martin had yet to taste the success of reaching a major tournament with his homeland. <\/p>\n That was all about to change as a perfect qualifying campaign, which featured two thumping wins against former World Cup winners Italy, helped Norway reach the finals for the first time since 1998.<\/p>\n Martin has had the taste of lifting silverware in north London, and now, almost 12 years on from his first international cap, he’ll be the first Norwegian captain since Frode Grod\u00e5s to lead his nation out at the finals.<\/p>\n While Martin might not hold the record for the youngest ever professional footballer to make his debut at international level any more, his career is defined my so much more than being a teenage talent.<\/p>\n “We’ve failed to qualify a lot of times, and we\u2019ve had a lot of hard moments for the team, so it means a lot,” Martin said after Norway secured qualification.<\/p>\n “For me personally, I’ve been in the team since 2014 and during that time we haven’t qualified for a major tournament, so to finally get there is huge. <\/p>\n “It\u2019s one of my biggest dreams to go to a tournament with Norway, and to be able to go to a World Cup with this group of players is an unbelievable feeling.”<\/p>\n Want to know more about Martin? Watch our full documentary on our skipper, Modern Leader, only on The Arsenal.<\/em><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In August 2014, Martin Odegaard became the youngest ever professional footballer to make his debut at international level, playing for Norway at the tender age of 15 years and 253 days. Fast forward almost 12 years, and Martin is now a Premier League-winning captain and is preparing to become the first Norwegian to lead his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Your Arsenal guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nTHE REACTION<\/h2>\n
Odegaard on crazy feeling of becoming a champion <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nMORE RECORDS<\/h2>\n
Picture special: Odegaard joins Arsenal <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nA POPULAR SKIPPER<\/h2>\n
HISTORY CALLING<\/h2>\n