Norway Women indeed had a very disappointing Euro 2022 journey as they were eliminated from the group stage after losing against England 8-0, losing to Austria 1-0 and winning 4-1 against Northern Ireland, collecting only three points.
This worrying performance, however, doesn’t mean that Norway’s players are not good enough.
On the contrary, this team has got plenty of world-class players who compete at the highest level, such as Barcelona Femení’s Caroline Graham Hansen and Ingrid Engen, Chelsea Women’s Guro Reiten, Manchester City Women’s Julie Blakstad and more.
At the same time, Norway are lucky to have one of the most talented strikers in Europe, Ada Hegerberg.
This player has proven several times that she has a very strong personality, as she was able to come back stronger following a painful anterior cruciate ligament injury that resulted in a two-year absence.
After coming back to continue playing for Lyon Féminin, her determination and desire to play and be at her best were very noticeable on the pitch as she was very dynamic and moved a lot without the ball, but with extreme intelligence.
The player possesses many strengths that will be addressed below; however, let’s begin by introducing the Norwegian international.
Hegerberg is a striker who started her professional senior career in 2011 at Kolbotn in the Norwegian league, Toppserien.
She moved to Stabæk in 2012, where she scored 25 goals in 18 games and then travelled to Germany, where she played for one year from 2013 to 2014.
Afterwards, Ada went to France to play for one of the European giants of women’s football, Lyon.
From 2014 until this moment, Hegerberg has been a great goalscorer in the French Division 1 Féminine, where she’s won everything, including six UEFA Women’s Champions League titles, seven times winner of the Division 1 Féminine, five times winner of Coupe de France and one Trophée des Championnes with her club.
Individually, Hegerberg has scooped up a UEFA Best Women’s Player in Europe in 2016, Ballon d’Or in 2018, Division 1 Féminine best goalscorer in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and many other trophies/records.
She is also the player with the most goals in the history of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, with 59 to her name, and has set the record for most goals in a single season by scoring 15.
Hegerberg is also the first footballer to score a hat-trick in a UEFA Women’s Champions League final and the first footballer to score in four different UEFA Women’s Champions League finals.
At the international level, she joined the Norwegian national team in 2011 and went on to participate in the 2013 UEFA Women’s Championship, as well as the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
However, in 2017, she stopped representing her nation due to conflicts with the Norwegian Football Federation and therefore didn’t participate in any international tournament until UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, as well as the qualifications for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.
The 27-year-old returned with a much stronger mindset and a lot of determination, whether playing for Lyon or with Norway, and that was very evident on the pitch, especially in the 2022 UEFA Women’s Champions League final.
She can represent a significant upgrade for the attacks of numerous teams that need a player like her to increase their goal-scoring chances and elevate their ambitions.
Therefore, Hegerberg will undoubtedly be free to choose either to continue her journey with Lyon Féminin or move to another big European team after her contract expires in 2024.
In this Ada Hegerberg scout report, we will explore Ada Hegerberg’s style of play and abilities, as well as her vital role in both Lyon’s and Norway’s tactics and to the rest of her teammates.
The analysis will also delve into how and why she is one of the best strikers at the moment.
Ada Hegerberg Position And Roles
Hegerberg is naturally a centre-forward who mainly plays in this attacking position but can also play as a left or a right centre-forward when accompanied by another striker.
She is used to playing in a plethora of formations including the 4-2-3-1, the 4-3-3 and the 4-4-2.
Her roles on the pitch are mainly related to goalscoring, and that’s why we often find her inside the box trying to anticipate crosses or through passes, as she usually gets marked tightly.
The 27-year-old is a very dangerous player as she knows exactly when and how to move inside the box to receive the ball in the best conditions and evade marking.
Her height of 1.79 m enables her to be extremely powerful in the air, as she scores a lot with her head.
This is partly why Ada Hegerberg is consistently marked, and opposing head coaches often struggle to stop such a player, especially if she receives the necessary support and passes from midfielders or wingers.
Moreover, the Norwegian retreats to collect the ball from midfield and shows herself when needed to help her teammates when they struggle to reach the box, acting as a midfielder herself.
Such movements allow wingers and midfielders to advance and switch roles with Hegerberg, creating some confusion for opposing defences.
Hegerberg can also be a very good passer whenever she retreats to midfield, and that’s a quality we don’t often find in strikers.
Another characteristic that differentiates the Lyon Féminin star from other strikers is that she can score with both feet without problems, and that’s a key characteristic in modern football, especially for strikers.
Apart from her roles in attack, Hegerberg is also a great captain who doesn’t stop motivating her teammates and always strives to get the best out of herself and her teammates.
That’s something that not all players can achieve, as it requires a lot of character and a strong mentality.
Additionally, it helps head coaches and makes their missions a little bit easier, especially in terms of communication.
Ada Hegerberg Heat Map
Ada Hegerberg Goalscoring
Hegerberg is one of the best goalscorers in Europe (and the world).
She has an xG of 0.89 and an average of 1.02 goals per match.
Her physical abilities give her an advantage over most defenders, as she knows how to position her body in front of them to touch the ball first with great quickness and timing.
Even after her long absence and comeback from injury, Ada Hegerberg showed that she can still score not only with her right foot but also with her left foot while showing great control of the ball, another characteristic of hers.
In the following example, Hegerberg was able to control the ball very well while protecting it with her body and resisting the disturbance of her marker before turning quickly towards the goal and coordinating her body in a perfect way to kick the ball with her left foot towards the bottom right corner, scoring an excellent goal.
Hegerberg also knows how to position herself perfectly inside the box, especially when she is about to receive a cross from the wings.
She scored numerous goals after receiving passes and crosses from both wings, proving that she is lethal in such situations.
Hegerberg often anticipates the pass and runs ahead of her marker to make the first impact on the ball quickly and accurately, whether with her head or her foot, sometimes even with a sliding shot.
On other occasions, like in the following action that occurred in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona, she somewhat distances herself from the opposing defenders at the last second before receiving the cross to meet the ball at the far post while putting herself in a position that allows her to shoot without much disturbance.
The image below shows exactly what we described above, as she scores her team’s second goal in this match.
In the following picture, we have captured a glimpse of Ada Hegerberg’s creativity, dribbling skills and intelligence.
She is the type of player who knows exactly what she is doing when confronted with opposing players, as she doesn’t fall into the trap of overthinking or avoiding responsibility.
As she received the ball here, she was in a complicated situation because a defender was coming toward her with a sliding tackle while she was still controlling the ball.
The 27-year-old immediately reacted very well by moving with the ball to her right to avoid that tackle.
Then, she instantly decided to shoot despite noticing that two other defenders were about to make tackles to deflect the ball.
Yet, the Norwegian didn’t change her mind and opted for a powerful and accurate shot that passed the two defenders and went into the net.
What is also excellent with Ada Hegerberg is that she can deal with any type of cross, even when these are early crosses from near the middle of the pitch.
A similar example of this happened during Lyon’s match against PSG when Amel Majri crossed the ball from the left flank towards Hegerberg, but the latter was disturbed by her direct marker.
Nevertheless, she was still able to make an impact on the ball with intelligence since she chipped it above the goalkeeper.
This type of striker can be fundamental to any team since she rarely misses a chance to exploit an opportunity, even when the passes coming to her are complicated.
Ada Hegerberg Playmaking
In terms of playmaking, it is true that Hegerberg is a striker and, therefore, has naturally more ambition to score than other players.
Yet, she has proven numerous times that she’s a true team player who cares about the team and winning more than she does about her individual records, and that’s very important to both Lyon and Norway.
In the following example, Ada Hegerberg had a very suitable goalscoring opportunity.
She pretended to shoot but preferred to pass the ball to her better-positioned teammate, since she felt that passing to her would be a more secure way of scoring.
This decision might seem normal, but many forwards do not think twice when put in such situations and immediately opt for the individual solution.
Hegerberg also plays well with her back towards the goal and provides assists to those coming from behind to shoot from distance.
Moreover, the Norwegian knows how to predict her teammates’ movements without the ball and sometimes provides them with key passes, breaking defensive lines and putting them in suitable scoring situations.
In another game against PSG, she gave her teammate a spectacular no-look through pass, allowing her to shoot freely and score an excellent goal.
Therefore, it is safe to say that Hegerberg is not just a goalscorer but also a great team player who provides assists when needed and plays for the team, as she also defends and retreats whenever necessary.
Conclusion
Ada Hegerberg is a complete player who is proving year after year that she is one of the best strikers in women’s football from all perspectives.
The fact that she won the Ballon d’Or in 2018 supports this statement.
Following Norway’s painful exit from UEFA Euro 2022, the 27-year-old Norwegian international will surely give her best to help the team bounce back very soon, especially when knowing that the 2023 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner.
