Norway upset Brazil and started a viral Viking Row — then three airlines joined its World Cup rivalry with England

Update: England beat Norway 2-1 after extra time in the World Cup quarterfinal, ending Norway’s historic run. Norwegian Air also followed through on its viral bet with British Airways, temporarily changing its Instagram profile picture to the British Airways logo after the loss. Read my follow-up on how the airline bet became one of the tournament’s best postgame stories.

Norway was not supposed to become the World Cup’s main character.

But a few days before Norway faces England in the quarterfinals in Miami, that is exactly where this tournament has landed. Norwegian Air and British Airways have turned an Instagram bet into a joint reel. American Airlines has jumped into the comments. SAS is trying to get fans onto a plane named after a Norse figure. And Mexico fans are practicing Norway’s viral Viking Row like they have adopted a second team.

That is what happens when a surprise World Cup run collides with the internet before kickoff.

Norway is still here after one of the most stunning results of the tournament, a 2-1 win over Brazil in the round of 16. Erling Haaland scored twice late, sending Norway into its first World Cup quarterfinal and setting up Saturday’s match against England. Haaland now has seven goals in his first World Cup, and Norway is making its first finals appearance since 1998.

Now the hype has moved from the stadium to Instagram, like so many viral World Cup fan moments.

In one post, Norwegian Air called out British Airways directly: “Hey @british_airways, do you wanna make a bet?” The proposed wager was simple. If Norway beats England, British Airways has to switch to Norwegian’s logo on Instagram for a day. If England wins, Norwegian does the same.

British Airways replied in the comments: “Don’t make bets you can’t win 😉”

That is the kind of social media exchange the World Cup has been producing all summer: funny, low-stakes and somehow very serious at the same time. It also captures why Norway vs. England suddenly feels like one of the most entertaining matchups left. The soccer is real. So is the trolling.

The Norway vs. England airline bet is officially on

After days of comments, teasing and speculation, Norwegian Air and British Airways posted a joint reel confirming that the bet is officially happening. The clip shows the “handshake” being delivered at British Airways headquarters, with a screen behind it reading, “Welcome to London, Norwegian” and “Miami is a long way to row home…”

Norwegian Air captioned the post: “After all the comments, all the banter, and all the speculation… The handshake has officially been delivered at @british_airways HQ. The deal is on.”

The comments may be almost as good as the reel. American Airlines jumped in with, “We don’t have a horse in this race… but we do have flights to the match.”

Another commenter thanked Norwegian Air and British Airways for “the best social media story I’ve ever seen,” while shouting out “all the airlines & airports who pulled up a chair, grabbed the popcorn & wrote some hilarious comments.”

At this point, Norway vs. England is more than a quarterfinal in Miami. It is a viral Viking Row, airline accounts choosing sides and fans treating the buildup like part of the tournament.

Norway’s World Cup run now goes through England

Norway may feel like the World Cup team everyone suddenly started talking about, but the results have been stacking up since the group stage.

Norway opened the tournament with a 4-1 win over Iraq in Boston, beat Senegal 3-2 in New York and finished second in Group I behind France. In the knockout stage, Norway beat Côte d’Ivoire 2-1 in Dallas before stunning Brazil 2-1 in New York. UEFA lists this as Norway’s fourth World Cup appearance, with 2026 already marking the country’s best-ever finish.

The Brazil win is what changed everything.

Haaland’s two late goals made the sporting story impossible to ignore. Goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland also had a huge moment, saving a Bruno Guimarães penalty early before Norway held on through a frantic finish. Brazil scored late through Neymar, but the result was already historic: Norway had knocked out the five-time world champion and moved within one win of a semifinal.

How Norway’s Viking Row came about

Before the Brazil upset, Norway’s fans were already one of the easiest groups to spot on Instagram.

Their Viking Row celebration has shown up in stadiums, streets, subway cars and public squares. The move is simple enough to understand instantly: fans sit down together and row in unison, turning a crowd into a human Viking boat.

The Viking Row did not start as a polished social media challenge. It traces back to Ole Frøystad, a Norwegian supporter now nicknamed “Mr Row Row,” who told Australia’s ABC Sport he wanted to create something that could help Norway from the stands. “I wanted to do something to help them perform on the pitch,” he said.

The idea came partly from a Rosenborg BK chant, where Frøystad had long liked the force of the syllable “ro.” In Norwegian, “ro” means row, which gave him the missing piece: fans sitting like they are inside a Viking ship, pulling imaginary oars as the chant gets faster and louder.

After Norway beat Brazil, the celebration moved home. The Guardian reported that Crown Prince Haakon joined thousands of fans outside the royal palace in Oslo for the team’s now viral row, while more than 100,000 fans were estimated to have celebrated in the capital.

That would be a strong viral moment on its own. But the more interesting part is how quickly other fans started joining in.

One reel shows Mexico fans practicing the Viking Row for Norway vs. England after Mexico’s own World Cup exit. The caption reads in Spanish: “Lo dimos todo México! Ahora toca apoyar a Noruega…” In other words: Mexico gave everything. Now it is time to support Norway.

That is the exact pivot that makes this story bigger than a normal game preview. Norway’s celebration is no longer just Norwegian. It has become one of the shared languages of this World Cup.

Even the flights to Miami are part of the story

The match is also turning into a travel story, which is part of why the Instagram embeds work so well.

Reuters reported that Norwegian fans have been scrambling to get to Florida, with airlines putting extra tickets on sale for the quarterfinal. Aviation24 reported that SAS and Norse Atlantic added special nonstop Oslo-to-Miami flights for the match, including a dedicated SAS round-trip service on an Airbus A330 and an additional Norse Dreamliner after demand surged following the Brazil win.

SAS leaned into the moment on Instagram, posting about a few remaining seats on “Bele Viking,” its aircraft heading straight to Miami. The plane’s name refers to an old Norse figure, which is exactly the kind of detail that makes this run feel like it was designed for Reels.

It is hard to think of a better snapshot of Norway’s World Cup right now: a surprise quarterfinal, a Viking-themed fan movement and actual transatlantic flights being marketed like a rolling pregame party.

Mexico’s goodbye became part of England’s story too

The Mexico-to-Norway crossover also matters because England got here by ending Mexico’s World Cup.

England beat Mexico 3-2 in Mexico City in the round of 16, with Jude Bellingham scoring twice and Harry Kane adding a penalty after England had gone down to 10 men. Mexico fought back late, but England held on to set up a quarterfinal with Norway.

That could have made England the villain in Mexico. And while some fans might be rowing for Norway, others still celebrated with England the night of the win.

British football creator Steve Bracknall shared a reel after England’s win over Mexico, writing that Mexican fans threw an impromptu street party for the English supporters even after Mexico had been knocked out.

In the caption, he wrote that England had knocked Mexico out of the World Cup in its own stadium, but Mexican fans still threw the English supporters a street party. He said they refused to let him pay for a drink, wanted to swap shirts, put on a sound system and partied into the early hours.

That post gave feelings, because it connects the Norway story to the broader reason this tournament keeps going viral. Yes, the matchups matter. Yes, the stakes are enormous. But a lot of the best World Cup content has come from what happens after the whistle: fans inviting strangers into their celebrations, borrowing each other’s chants and refusing to let a loss ruin the night.

And right now, a lot of them are also rowing toward Norway.