Riise leaves Norway job as Women’s World Cup coaching casualties mount

Brazil parted ways with Swede Pia Sundhage earlier this week, while the contract of Ireland coach Vera Pauw was not renewed, despite her leading the country to the finals of its first major women’s tournament.

FILE PHOTO: Norway coach Hege Riise before the FIFA Women’s World Cup match against Phillipines in a Group A encounter. | Photo Credit: DAVID ROWLAND/ REUTERS

Norway coach Hege Riise is to leave her role, the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) has announced, making her the latest manager to lose their job following the recent Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Brazil parted ways with Swede Pia Sundhage earlier this week, while the contract of Ireland coach Vera Pauw was not renewed, despite her leading the country to the finals of its first major women’s tournament.

Since the end of the tournament, 10 of the 32 nations have parted ways with their coach, and players from Spain, who won the World Cup for the first time, have said they will not play for coach Jorge Vilda again, amid the fallout from a kissing scandal involving his boss, federation chief Luis Rubiales.

Norway suffered a shock 1-0 loss to co-hosts New Zealand in its opening game and then Riise benched star winger Caroline Graham Hansen for its second group match, a goalless draw with Switzerland.

Graham Hansen’s angry comments after that game grabbed the headlines in Norway and though she was reinstated for the final group game against the Philippines, which they won, it was then outclassed in a defeat to Japan in the last 16.

The subsequent evaluation of Norway’s performance has seen Riise - arguably the country’s greatest female player and a World Cup winner in 1995 - move into a new role in the NFF promoting the women’s game.

“Through the evaluation work and in conversations with Hege Riise, we have seen that we have differing views on the role of the national team coach for this team,” NFF president Lise Klaveness - herself a former international - said in a statement.

Once a superpower in the women’s game, Norway now face the prospect of finding a new coach in an ultra-competitive market, and the new Nations League is looming at the end of September.

“The federation board is working to put in place a temporary solution for the autumn games in the Nations League. The solution will be presented as soon as it is ready,” the NFF said in a statement.