Read 3 minutesUpdated: 1 July 2026 12:29 AM IST
It’s not just the Viking row and the echoes of the hoo that echo through the stadia Norway is playing their FIFA World Cup. As Haaland and Odegaard go about their games, you can not only hear Viking chants, but also see Viking scribbles.
Against Côte d’Ivoire, who remained the only team in orange until Tuesday, Norway marched in their two-chrome jersey, with black lettering on crisp white. Norway’s away jersey features an iconic font, a typeface that draws inspiration from the oldest runic alphabet used by the Vikings. We’re talking about the first century, before Emperor Bluetooth. The font is sans serif, geometric and very angular and pokey – drawing out lines and inspired by the Elder Futhark runes. It is called ‘Techfurd Condensed’.
Also read | How Norway football fans turned to their Viking history For the FIFA World Cup
Designed by Justin Patrick Anthony Fabian Stajovski Talion or Justinho and Dan Gerhardstein from Bergen, Norway, the Takefurd typeface stands for ‘Journey Through the Fog’. “I felt it was fitting after the country’s 28-year absence from competition. The federation wanted to celebrate the country’s rich heritage dating back to the time of the Viking explorers,” designer Talian wrote on his Instagram account.
Numbers are mostly cut off curves – like Slim Scribble is allergic to cursive. Of the modern typefaces, Norse, Copperplate Gothic (minus the decorative tips) and Trajan come closest to what is brilliant in Dallas. “To add a little more dynamism to the otherwise straight lines, a little bit of scalloping was added to the edges of each character,” Justinho explained.
He has also designed the USA jersey as well as Corinthians in Brazil.
When Nike introduced it in 2024, and went overboard with the rune-styling, FIFA apparently rejected it, because it wasn’t legible and the two-tone colors didn’t go together. Nike followed suit when designing the 2026 WC jersey, but simplified the lines so it could be seen from afar.
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Norway’s jerseys also feature the opponent’s name, match dates and venue – meaning they could just be printed for the knockouts.