With Norwegian football fans glued to TV screens across the country as the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 tournament approaches crunch time, free-to-air broadcasters NRK and TV2, who are sharing the match coverage, are creating the content to satisfy viewers.
SVG Europe caught up with Martin Leinaas, production manager and onsite team leader at NRK Sport for the Women’s Euros, who was speaking from Switzerland while gearing up for the Norway vs Iceland match in Thun – which Norway won 4-3 on Thursday 10 July. He was joined by Andreas Hegdal Sommerseth, producer at NRK Sport and director for the Women’s Euros, speaking from NRK’s Oslo base where the main studio is located.
Leinaas says: “Our main operation is in Oslo with the studios, which will stay for the whole tournament. On site here we have two live TV reporters and two ENG cinematographers. We are broadcasting everything over LiveU with cable internet back to Oslo, and then we have the multi-feed package from UEFA. We run everything in Oslo and we just deliver interviews from Switzerland.”
Using its ENG crews on the ground in Switzerland, NRK has a pitchside position for games it covers, and for the Norway matches it also has an on-pitch standup position, plus flash and super flash.
In Switzerland the team on the ground travel to whichever stadium they need to be at the day before a game, says Leinaas. “We travel to the match city on match day minus one to cover the press conferences and training. But since the Norwegian team is living here in Neuchâtel, they will have their training here in Neuchâtel in 45 minutes,” he says, referring to the Norway vs Iceland match, “and then they will move to Thun and we will join them there for the press conference and walk around.”
The Norwegian team’s training site is Stade des Chézards, Colombier, and it is based at the Beau-Rivage Hôtel, Neuchâtel.
Leinaas continues: “Then we will pick up everything we need from the broadcast office. So today’s just preparation for tomorrow, to get to know the stadium and walk around and see where we have to go to get to all the positions. And tomorrow we’re going to be at the stadium three hours before kickoff and just prepare.”
NRK commentates on all of Norway’s matches and the knockout stage matches from the arena. Says Leinaas: “Our commentator is flying in and out, and for the knockout for the two quarterfinals and semifinals and the final, we will be doing the commentating onsite.”
NRK ENG crews on the ground in Switzerland are using tech including:
- Cameras: Sony PXW-X500, Sony Z90
- Audio: Sony Wisycom
- Battery: Id-Lion V mount battery
Oslo setup
Meanwhile, Sommerseth comments on what NRK is running in Oslo: “We have one studio where we have one host and usually three pundits per game. We have the feed, which is eight feeds per match. The feed package could be better, but hopefully for the next Euros we’ll get even better, because it’s not exactly what we want, but it’s something.”
Before each game, there is a build-up programme, which is ramped up more for Norway matches, says Sommerseth. “It depends on how much time we have, but we usually have a minimum of 20 minutes for a normal build-up on an early match, for England or a team like that we’ll do 30 minutes, and for Norway matches we have an hour without any commercial breaks and usually almost without any long reports or anything.”
“We use a lot of the images from the stadium. We have a big screen behind the presenters [in the studio] that shows a view from the stadium, so you get the feeling from the stadium there, which we use for things like to show the players we’re talking about, or to go live through to people that are in Switzerland,” continues Sommerseth.
He adds that augmented reality (AR) is part of the studio set up in Oslo. “We have a small amount of XR in the studio, which we use as decoration and also to show the people we are talking about. Other than that, it’s mainly focused on showing pictures from the stadium to build attention and talk about the match. We’re using some split screens to show the studio a little bit, but we’re mainly we’re focused on the stadium.”
Using Vizrt with StypeKit and RedSpy, the graphics team at NRK can create precision and accuracy in their camera movements, resulting in a seamless integration of virtual and real-world elements.
Sommerseth says: “RedSpy is mounted on the top of the camera and it picks up marks in the ceiling so it knows where it is in the studio to provide the XR.”
More is more
The NRK team would like more content on the feeds provided by UEFA, says Sommerseth. “It’s what’s on the feeds which is the issue,” he explains. “For the other Euros, you get slow mo’s, one of the feeds is just action shots. Here, one is tactical behind the goal, and this gives us something more to play with, but it would be better to have playouts from the EVS crew on site if I could decide,” Sommerseth notes, regarding a need for more replay shots in the NRK package.
However, Leinaas adds: “I have to salute UEFA in finally giving some more feeds for the Women’s Euros. In England we had to bring LiveU’s to all the OB vans when we were on onsite to get the extra signals as there’s no IBC for the Euros, so you need to be on onsite with a big OB van to get the extra feeds. With the multi-feed package they have now, it gives us more to play with than just the one match feed.”
Sommerseth continues: “It is better, but there is still some way to go. And also we know which way the world is working, at least in NRK, that we’re not going to be on site unless it’s too expensive to not be on site, which is rare, but working from home is the way forward. I’m really hoping UEFA just keep building on their new technology and the next Euros gives us more; I don’t need more feeds, I just need more content in the feeds because some of the feeds, we don’t use it all.
“Especially the way we do our pre-show and our halftime show and our post, is a lot of picking the plays we want to talk about. I want slow-mo emotions from the game. I want not just the slow-mo’s that are shown on the match feed, because that’s just some situations; I want more slow-mo’s, I want slow-mo’s from the spectators, on reaction shots, I want slow-mo’s from the coaches, I want like to have small kicks, we call them small musicy things to get the tempo up in the build up and in halftime,” says Sommerseth, with his directing hat on.
“What we’re getting now is basically just the slow-mo that are shown on the match feed. For the Men’s Euros [UEFA offers] two play outs from the EVS that are just really, really good. The content that I would like is just EVS playouts because that’s what we use. Now we have a drone shot – one of the feeds is a drone – that’s brilliant, that’s one of the things we use a lot in the split screens and in the big screen behind the presenters. So there is some [good stuff] but it’s not good for the content I want to produce.”
Over to the players
As to what happens after the knockout stages, it all depends on the Norwegian team. Says Leinaas: “It all depends on Norway, because we are splitting up the championship with TV2 Norway, so they had the first match here in Switzerland against the host nation, and we have had the two other matches and TV2 Norway will have the quarter-final and semi-final with Norway, and then we will have the final. So if Norway’s playing the final, I think that we will have a huge operation on onsite, but that’s not decided yet.”
Adds Sommerseth: “I’ve asked but nothing’s been decided. But if the unthinkable happens and Norway goes to the final, then I’m guessing it would be a huge operation on site. As far as I know, the studio will still be in Oslo, but just a bigger operation in Switzerland.”
