With Fifa’s Women’s World Cup at a close now, Mission looks back on our interview with Norwegian player Hegerberg featured in our zine with Nike.
A week before I interviewed football superstar Ada Hegerberg in mid-March 2022, our first Nike x Mission magazine cover shoot (displayed alongside this interview) took place in Lyon, France. According to just about everyone on set, it was a bitingly cold day, and the shoot dragged on later than expected. Despite being decked out in nothing but football shorts and a sports shirt, Hegerberg was “a ball of energy” (no pun intended), according to Karina Givargisoff, Mission’s editor in chief.
Though she’s one of the most in-demand footballers in the world, Hegerberg is modest, bubbly, and easygoing, laughing it off when I apologize about the frosty weather at the shoot. “It’s alright, it’s alright, anything for the shot!” she jests. This energy is something that serves her well on the pitch. The footballer—renowned for her goal-scoring abilities—cut her teeth playing for Norwegian clubs Kolbotn and Stabæk and represented Norway’s national team in the 2015 World Cup. At present, Hegerberg is a forward for French Division 1 Team, Lyon.
The sheer magnitude of Hegerberg’s mark on women’s football is perhaps best denoted by her winning the Ballon d’Or in 2018, universally considered the most prestigious award in football which, before Hegerberg, was reserved exclusively for men. Unfortunately, the ceremony’s presenter, DJ Martin Solveig, asking Hegerberg if she knew “how to twerk” was equally symbolic; this time in representing how behind football is in terms of gender equality, a plight Hegerberg is working to remedy.
“I was very fortunate to grow up in the family that I did. I had a mom and dad who were extremely focused toward gender equality. I would call my dad a little feminist sometimes.”
Like most professional athletes, the 26-year-old footballer showed a propensity for the sport from an early age, alongside her older sister Andrine. As children, the two of them would train with their father (which they still do, to this day), who made a point of preventing outdated gender stereotypes from clouding his daughters’ ambition. “I was very fortunate to grow up in the family that I did. I had a mom and dad who were extremely focused toward gender equality. I would call my dad a little feminist sometimes,” Hegerberg says, chuckling. Years later, the pair would play together for German club Turbine Potsdam.
Hegerberg is, however, hyper-aware that not every young girl is dealt the same cards she was and harbors concerns over society’s attitude toward female footballers, a bias that often asserts itself in childhood. “I think that we are failing at some point,” she says. “We need to put the same demands on young girls in order for them to feel seen. We don’t take young girls as seriously as we do young boys. And as a footballer, I can see that the end product is not going to be the same quality as it is with the men. We’re just behind, you know?
“We’ve come a long way, but there’s still such a long way to go, and is it happening at the pace we want it to happen? I don’t think so. You have all these young girls, and it’s about getting them in an environment where they can practice the sport. And I think we failed a little bit.”
Borne of this concern was Hegerberg’s foray into activism. Since the beginning of her career, she has fervently advocated for women in sports and, more recently, the environment. “The world of football is not just about football; it’s a game of power, gender equality, democracy, and a lot of politics as well,” she says. As is par for the course for eminent athletes, Hegerberg has been in high demand for commercial partnerships. The footballer’s recent partnering with Nike, however, serves not only as a brand endorsement but also as a platform for something deeper: environmentalism. “I wouldn’t call myself an activist or an expert, but the climate is something that is so fragile, and I think that has to be one of the biggest challenges of our century,” she says. “I have a huge amount of respect for the younger generation, who are really concerned about this. With Nike, it was a big opportunity to make an impact on this theme. I also think it’s very interesting to highlight the Climate Challenge [also known as Move to Zero, Nike’s journey toward zero carbon and zero waste]. So that’s why it’s an honor to be the first to wear this boot, which is 50 percent recycled—the first in football.”
“The world of football is not just about football; it’s a game of power, gender equality, democracy, and a lot of politics as well.”
How do you think football—in all its facets—can work to counter the climate crisis, I ask? “Start acting now. I don’t think we have much time to wait,” says Hegerberg. “I think that every initiative can have an impact. [Football] clubs can have an incredible impact with the power they have. For example, we travel a lot. How can we change the way we travel? I know that some clubs are creating their own energy with sun panels. They’re onto that in Lyon as well, which is very exciting. There are a lot of organizations out there that have the power to make an impact on this.”
Although she’s adamant about making sure commercial deals don’t get in the way of her training, as she has an “unwritten rule” with her agency that performance always comes first, she’s grateful for the opportunities they bring beyond the pitch. “Some of the partnerships that I’ve had have actually given me the sense that I can do something bigger than just playing football, but also have an impact on girls’ futures, which is something that is very dear to me,” she says.
“Some of the partnerships that I’ve had have actually given me the sense that I can do something bigger than just playing football, but also have an impact on girls’ futures, which is something that is very dear to me.”
Having moved from Norway to Germany, then Germany to France, for her career, Hegerberg is a citizen of the world, or perhaps more aptly—a citizen of Europe. She credits this succession of culture shocks as an “education in and of itself.” “Our dad always told us that we didn’t have to sit on the school bench to gain an education because we experienced so much out in Europe from different cultures,” says Hegerberg.
Although Hegerberg struggles to pin down what her alternate-reality career path would be, she knows forthwith that were she not playing football, she would travel the world. “I hope I would travel a lot to try to understand how the world actually functions,” she says. “I think that going abroad, out of your own country, makes you realize a lot of stuff—not just about the world, but also about yourself.”
My Name Is Ada, a candid ESPN documentary, came out in 2020 and maps Hegerberg’s experience as an athlete, her day-to-day life, and her fight for gender equality. Hegerberg describes the filming experience as something that made her feel “quite vulnerable.” “For me, it’s important to keep a balance,” she says. “I want to share a lot of myself, but at the same time I want to keep my private life private. That helps me to be much sharper in my professional life and lets me go back to my own little private bubble when I need that. We went into some personal subjects, but at the same time, my husband wasn’t in it. It was still about football.” (Hegerberg married her long-term boyfriend and fellow footballer, Thomas Rogne, in 2019.)
Had I not watched Hegerberg’s documentary, I might be surprised at how open she is, given her history with the media. In 2017, she abdicated her position on Norway’s national team following a dispute with the Norwegian Football Federation regarding the pay disparity between men and women’s football. This led her to sit out the 2019 World Cup, a decision that was met with derision from Norway’s national press. Hegerberg insists that despite the controversy, she hasn’t become overly circumspect when doing interviews. “I wouldn’t say that I’m more careful, but I prepare better,” she explains. Her openness is refreshing, and her sense of perspective enviable. “Sometimes we will have that occasional clickbait headline,” she says, “but at the end of the day, I’m telling myself that there are worse things happening in the world to really care.”
“Sometimes we will have that occasional clickbait headline, but at the end of the day, I’m telling myself that there are worse things happening in the world to really care.”
I summon up the courage to ask Hegerberg the million-dollar question: Will she return to play for Norway in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, as has been implied by the press of late? “We will see, you know? We will see,” she delicately sidesteps. I need not have asked—the day of my writing deadline, Hegerberg took to Instagram to announce that she has returned to the Norway women’s national team and will be representing her home country in this summer’s Euros, and she is in the squad for the World Cup qualifiers.
There’s a scene in My Name Is Ada where Hegerberg catches sight of a woman cruising down the highway, roof down, not a care in the world. Hegerberg remarks, “That’s me in 30 years!” So where does Hegerberg—more practically speaking—see herself in 30 years’ time? “Hopefully, I’m retired!” she laughs. “I hope that I’m at peace with what I’ve accomplished at that point, and obviously that I’m happy with my husband. Maybe we’ve created a family.”
While talking to Hegerberg, it’s evident that despite her success, football isn’t the be-all and end-all. She repeatedly refers to it as “just a game,” and believes whole-heartedly in the sport’s ability to ignite wider change, “I take a lot of responsibility in terms of using my platform to carry the sport into the right direction. Because I know that you’ve had trailblazers before me. Pioneers, grandmothers, mothers. Amazing, badass women who fought for us to get to the place where we’re at today, and I genuinely think that we need to carry that responsibility to make room for the next generation.”
Photography by Sean Ellis. Hair and makeup by Cicci Svahn at Calliste Agency. Fashion assistant: Julia Veitch. Photo assistant: Justin Nolet. All clothing, Nike.
