Women's EURO 2022: Austria vs Norway match facts, stats, ones to watch

Austria vs Norway: Head-to-head

• Austria conclude their UEFA Women's EURO 2022 Group A campaign at the Brighton & Hove Community Stadium against two-time winners Norway, a team they have never previously beaten.
• The two sides are level on three points and are vying to clinch second spot behind section winners England.
• Austria gave their last-eight hopes a boost with a 2-0 victory against Northern Ireland at Southampton on 11 July, Katharina Schiechtl opening the scoring with a close-range finish in the 19th minute before a neat strike from substitute Katharina Naschenweng clinched the win with just two minutes remaining.
• Norway will be aiming to bounce back from suffering their record defeat, the 8-0 Matchday 2 loss against England in Brighton; that made them the first side to concede seven or more goals at a senior women's or men's EURO.
• Austria will progress to the quarter-finals as runners-up if they avoid defeat. Norway will go through if they win.
• The sides are meeting for the sixth time in total and the first since EURO 2017 qualifying, when the Grasshoppers topped Group Eight ahead of nearest rivals Austria, who reached their first major tournament as one of the six best runners-up.
• The last meeting between the pair was a 2-2 draw in Oslo in June 2016, in what was Norway's only failure to record all three points in the preliminaries ahead of EURO 2017. Nina Burger gave the visitors a 13th-minute lead, only for Maren Mjelde (23) and Isabell Herlovsen (56) to put the hosts ahead. Austria rescued a point thanks to Laura Feiersinger's 85th-minute effort.
• Norway had won each of the first four fixtures between the nations – keeping a clean sheet in each – prior to that 2-2 draw in June 2016.
• Norway recorded a 1-0 victory in Steyr earlier in the EURO 2017 qualifying campaign in April 2016, Lene Mykjåland's 23rd-minute penalty winning the contest for the visitors.
• Four of the five previous fixtures between the nations have come in EURO qualifying, the exception being Norway's 2-0 friendly win in Portugal in March 2009.
• The sides were first paired together in qualifying for EURO 2009, with Norway eventually clinching top spot in Group Six. The Grasshoppers recorded a 3-0 win against Austria in Lillestrøm in June 2007 and a 4-0 success in Amstetten in the return fixture a year later.
• Austria reached their first EURO five years ago, the debutants eventually eliminated in the semi-finals via spot kicks following a goalless draw with Denmark in Breda.
• Norway are playing at their 12th EURO, the joint most in the competition's history alongside Italy.
• Norway lifted the trophy in two of their first four EURO appearances. They triumphed as hosts on their debut in 1987, beating reigning champions Sweden in the showpiece, and overcame hosts Italy in the decider six years later.
• The Grasshoppers will be hoping to avoid successive EURO group stage exits for the first time, having lost all their Group A matches in the Netherlands last time out. Norway's only other failure to reach at least the last four came in 1997, when they finished third in their group behind Italy and Germany.
• Norway have twice reached the final since their most recent EURO title in 1993, losing to Germany in both England in 2005 and Sweden in 2013.
• Martin Sjögren's team qualified for their 12th EURO in a row with a flawless preliminary campaign – winning all their six matches to top Group C, scoring 34 goals and conceding only one.
• Irene Fuhrmann's side booked their place at a second successive final tournament by finishing as one of the best three runners-up in qualifying. They collected 19 points from their eight matches in Group G to take second place behind France, only dropping points only against Les Bleues (0-0 h, 0-3 a). That 3-0 defeat in Guingamp in November 2020 was the only game in which they conceded a goal.
• Schiechtl's opener against Northern Ireland ended Austria's run of three EURO matches without a goal.
• That victory was only the second time Austria had scored more than once in a EURO match and the first since a 3-0 win against Iceland on Matchday 3 of the 2017 edition.
• Austria's Matchday 1 loss to England is their only defeat in 90 minutes at a Women's EURO; their record in regulation time in their seven matches at the tournament is W3 D3 L1.
• Austria have kept five clean sheets in their seven EURO finals games, conceding just two goals.
• Norway have lost five of their last six EURO finals matches, failing to score in each of those defeats; their 4-1 Matchday 1 victory against Northern Ireland is the exception.
• In that Matchday 1 success, Norway became only the third side to score 50 EURO finals goals, after Germany and Sweden.
• Maren Mjelde's next EURO appearance will be her 17th, taking her above Ingvild Stensland and into outright second place in the country's leading finals appearance makers in the competition. Only Solveig Gulbrandsen (20) has played in more matches for Norway.
• Norway's 8-0 loss to England on Matchday 2 was the heaviest defeat in their history, overtaking the 7-0 loss at the hands of the Netherlands – under current England coach Sarina Wiegman – in June 2021.

Ones to watch: Austria

Laura Feiersinger

• The 29-year-old hit Austria's late equaliser in these sides' last meeting, the 2-2 EURO 2017 qualifier in Oslo in June 2016.
• The midfielder was one of four players to feature in every minute of Austria's run to the semi-finals at EURO 2017, along with Verena Hanshaw, Carina Wenninger and Manuela Zinsberger.
• Feiersinger converted her penalty in the 5-3 shoot-out win against Spain in the quarter-finals of the 2017 tournament, but failed with her kick in the semi-final exit versus Denmark.
• The Eintracht Frankfurt player scored the first goal of Austria's qualifying campaign for EURO 2022, in the 3-0 home win against North Macedonia in September 2019.

Sarah Puntigam

• The 29-year-old became Austria's most-capped player with her 110th appearance for the country on 17 September, surpassing Nina Burger's previous mark.
• The midfielder featured in all eight of Austria's qualifiers for EURO 2022, scoring in the 5-0 away win versus Kazakhstan in September 2020.
• Puntigam started all five of Austria's matches at EURO 2017, scoring the decisive penalty in the 5-3 shoot-out win against Spain following the goalless last-eight draw in Tilburg.
• In May she signed a two-year contract to join Köln for the 2022/23 campaign, making a return to German club football after four years in France with Montpellier.

Sarah Zadrazil

• The 29-year-old opened the scoring in the 3-0 Matchday 3 victory versus Iceland at EURO 2017, as Austria secured top spot in their group.
• The Bayern München player was one of three Austria players to play every minute in the 2022 qualifying campaign, along with Wenninger and Zinsberger.
• She scored in successive EURO 2022 qualifiers in November 2019, the victories against North Macedonia and Kazakhstan.
• Zadrazil is among a trio of Austrians to have started all eight of their preliminaries ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, with Wenninger and Hanshaw.

Ones to watch: Norway

Ada Hegerberg

• The attacker, who turns 27 on 10 July, struck the opening goal in the 2-0 friendly victory against New Zealand on 25 June.
• The forward hit a hat-trick on her return to the national side after almost five years away in the 2023 World Cup qualifying win against Kosovo on 7 April.
• Hegerberg was one of four players to start all of Norway's six matches as they were runners-up at EURO 2013, along with Toril Hetland Akerhaugen, Ingrid Hjelmseth and Maren Mjelde.
• The Olympique Lyonnais striker struck in the 3-1 UEFA Women's Champions League final win versus Barcelona on 21 May, the competition's fourth final in which she had scored.

Maren Mjelde 

• The 32-year-old struck Norway's first goal in their last encounter with Austria, the 2-2 EURO 2017 qualifying draw in June 2016.
• The Grasshoppers captain made her 153rd appearance for the national side on 29 June to go fifth in Norway's leading appearance makers, overtaking Linda Medalen in the standings.
• Mjelde was the only Norwegian outfielder to play every minute of the EURO 2022 qualification campaign.
• The defender was ever present as Norway reached the final of EURO 2013, and was named in the tournament's all-star squad.

Guro Reiten

• The 27-year-old struck both Norway goals as they came from behind to win 2-1 in their final EURO 2022 warm-up match, the victory against Denmark in Viborg on 29 June.
• The winger started all six of Norway's qualifiers for EURO 2022, scoring four goals in the process.
• Reiten scored the opening goal of the Grasshoppers' group stage campaign at the 2019 World Cup, in the 3-0 win against Nigeria in Reims.
• She helped Chelsea win the Women's Super League and FA Cup double in 2021/22, and was named in this season's Professional Footballers' Association WSL Team of the Year.