On Saturday night, the capital of Norway was shocked by the shooting at a nightclub that is popular with sexual minorities. The incident claimed the lives of two people and for the first time in a long time reminded the Scandinavians of the problem of terrorism in their country.

Sympathy for the victims of the attack was expressed by many famous Norwegians. The players of the local team did not stand aside either. The captain and legend of Norway, Ada Hegerberg, supported the LGBT community during the last match with a beautiful gesture, but unexpectedly received a lot of negativity and insults against her.

Even the Golden Ball, which she received in 2018 as the first of the women, did not save the girl from criticism.

support gesture

If you think that now football in Norway is only the brilliant Erling Holland, then you are greatly mistaken. Ada Hegerberg became an idol for millions of girls and one of the most visible athletes in Norway even before the Manchester City rookie made it to senior school.

In 2015, the girl won the Golden Ball as the best football player in Norway among men and women. And three years later she was awarded the first Ballon d’Or already as the strongest football player in the world. For the country, this achievement was historic.

Ada Hegerberg / Photo: © Aurelien Meunier / Contributor / Getty Images News / Gettyimages.ru

Now 26-year-old Hegerberg plays for Lyon and serves as the captain of his national team. The Norwegian team is one of the most titled in Europe: the team has two continental titles and four more finals. This summer, the Norwegians, led by Ada, will again go for the trophy at Euro 2022 – the tournament starts in July.

In preparation for the European Championship, the Norwegian national team recently hosted New Zealand (2:0). On the night before the game in Oslo, a terrible tragedy broke out: unknown people fired at several public places in the capital, including a gay club. Wanting to support the victims of the attack and their families, Hegerberg entered the match wearing a rainbow-colored captain’s armband and celebrated the winning goal by displaying an LGBT flag in front of the camera.

“Fear Allah”

However, not all fans appreciated the sincere gesture of their captain. On the same day, Ada posted a post on a social network with the same captain’s armband.

And she “honored” insults from her subscribers, who, in addition to rude comments, sent her emoji of feces and middle fingers. Local Muslims did not like the record of the football player especially strongly:

– Stop mixing this muck with football.

– Abnormal.

– A shame! Are not you ashamed? Puppet…

“They will put you in Qatar.

Guys, be afraid of Allah.

Hegerberg herself ignored the backlash:

— I want to emphasize that there was a lot of support and love. This is what I take with me. I don’t pay much attention to the negative, biased and other parts. But it shows that we have a long way to go. I naively believe that everyone wants the best for each other, that we are equal and that we have equal rights. But the reality is harsh, and the world is cruel, – said Hegerberg.

Norwegians, despite their openness and high standard of living, sometimes think so stereotypically that they are even ready to pulverize their great compatriot.

“For every idiot who writes something like that, there are probably a dozen who praise her,” former men’s football player Carl-Eric Thorp tried to support Ada.

Ada Hegerberg / Photo: © Visionhaus / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Threats for supporting women

However, this is not the first time in Hegerberg’s career that she has faced harsh criticism from fans. In 2018, it even got to the point where she received death threats. After the opening match of the World Cup in Russia, when our guys defeated Saudi Arabia (5:0), Ada wrote a post:

Tough start for Saudi Arabia. Maybe they should have let women out on the field?

The Saudi reaction was not long in coming. As you know, in this Arab country, women had just been allowed to attend matches by that time, and the equality of male and female sexes is perceived as an insult.

– When death threats began to appear in Arabic, I thought that maybe it’s time to remove it (post – approx. SB). But this is what I stand for, and there is nothing wrong with that, the girl said five years ago.