Estonia, who sit in fourth place (out of five) in Group I, were already out of the running after the qualifiers last month against Italy away and Moldova at home ended in a loss and a draw respectively. This meant they were only playing for pride in Oslo. On the other hand the Norwegians, while topping the group, lay only three points ahead of Italy, playing Moldova away on Thursday, and so were out to win to ensure world cup finals qualification next year in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and for the first time since 1998.

While this was Estonia's final qualifier, Norway and Italy still have to face each other on Sunday evening.

Estonia were missing defender Maksim Paskotši (KAA Gent) and midfielder Mattias Käit (FC Thun) ahead of the game, while Norway's Manchester City start Erling Haaland, whose father Alfie played in the 1994 world cup finals, also in the U.S.

While Norway was dominant from the outset, the visitors kept them at bay for the whole 45 minutes, and none of Norway's 13 shots on goal hit home, nor did either of Estonia's two attempts.

The second half continued to be evenly contested for a few minutes until striker Alexander Sørloth (Atletico Madrid) headed the ball into the Estonian goal from a cross by midfielder Sander Berge (Fulham)

Sørloth was on target just two minutes later, followed by two goals from Haaland in the space of a few minutes, the first of them off the head, to more or less seal Estonia's fate half and hour before full time.

On the 65th minute however the visitors got a consolation goal when winger Robi Saarma (Pardubice ) converted a long pass from midfielder Kevor Palumets (Podbrezová), marking the 24 year old's debut goal for the national side.

Estonia were almost on the scoresheet again in the closing minutes, but 17-year-old Marten-Chris Paalberg's (Marten-Chris Paalberg) great strike sadly hit the crossbar.

The goals can be viewed by clicking on the video player below.

Estonia thus finished their 2026 world cup qualifying campaign with just the one win, 3:2 away to Moldova, six losses, and a 1:1 home draw, also against the Moldovans.

While they finished above Moldova, due to the quirks of the system the latter still have a theoretical chance of qualification via their Nations League ranking. Israel, five points and one place above Estonia in Group I, are also out.

Italy beat Moldova 2:0 away Thursday night meaning both they and Norway are playing for automatic qualification in Milan on Sunday: The loser can still qualify via the playoffs.

The draw for the 2026 world cup finals takes place December 5.

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