Norwegian players who won the Champions League

Europe's premier club competition has had a global roll-call of winners over the years, with champions hailing from Argentina to Zimbabwe.

Continental conquerors needn't be stymied by their birthplace. San Marino, the lowest-ranked nation on the planet, have produced as many European Cup winners as former World Cup semi-finalists South Korea (one).

Norway, once ranked as high as second in the world, have been responsible for more Champions League winners than most - only 16 countries can lay claim to more continental champions.

1. Steinar Pederson (Borussia Dortmund - 1997)

While Borussia Dortmund celebrated the club's first-ever Champions League victory in the days after Lars Ricken's heroics off the bench against Juventus, Steinar Pedersen was on the end of a 3-1 defeat against middling Norwegian side Sogndal.

Pedersen had joined Dortmund in the summer of 1996 and made two Champions League group-stage appearances - starting the team's only European loss that season - but opted to return to Norway on loan with Lillestrom in January.

The defender was entitled to a winner's medal but never made it back into Dortmund's first team once returning from his loan spell. Unsurprisingly, Pedersen described the decision to leave Borussia as "one of the stupidest choices I've made."

2. Henning Berg (Manchester United - 1999)

Henning Berg, a Premier League champion with both Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United, was not included in the squad that defeated Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final but certainly played his role in the treble-winning campaign.

As Sir Alex Ferguson recalled: "He made two of the best goalline clearances I have ever seen in my life the year we won the Champions League.

"In the home leg against Inter Milan in the quarter-final he made a fantastic clearance from Ivan Zamorano and he did the same in the return leg in Italy. It was incredible really."

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3. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United - 1999)

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has gone down in United folklore as the club's greatest super sub but Ferguson didn't call him off the bench once during the first four knockout games of the 1998/99 Champions League season.

The then-26-year-old watched from the sidelines as United navigated their way past Inter and Juventus before he was tossed on in desperation in the 81st minute of the final.

While a 93rd-minute winner against Bayern Munich earned him legendary status - and arguably a managerial role - Solskjaer was refreshingly honest about the hefty good fortune behind his career-defining moment.

"You're in the right place, at the right time and you just manage to get your toe onto it," he remembered. "[On] another day it would've gone over the bar or onto the defender's head. But I was lucky enough to just get a big enough touch on it."

4. Ronny Johnsen (Manchester United - 1999)

Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and, um, Ronny Johnsen. The towering Nordic figure in defence was one of only five players to start the three consecutive trophy deciders for United in the year they sealed the European treble.

Perhaps Johnsen's influence has been clouded in the fog of time by his subsequent injury struggles. After the 1999 Champions League final - where Johnsen conceded the free kick from which Bayern's Mario Basler opened the scoring - the centre-back didn't make another appearance for United until April 2000.

Johnsen came off the bench in a 3-1 win over Southampton that spring which sealed the Premier League title, ensuring that he won four trophies in as many appearances.

5. John Arne Riise (Liverpool - 2005)

The limitations of Liverpool's squad in 2004/05 were spelt out by a fifth-placed Premier League finish but Rafael Benitez was reluctant to rotate in Europe.

John Arne Riise was one of three players - together with centre-back partnership Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia - to start all 13 games of Liverpool's triumphant Champions League campaign.

Pushed into a more advanced role down the left flank, it was Riise's cross that teed up Steven Gerrard as Liverpool mounted an unthinkable comeback against AC Milan in the 2005 showpiece. Despite Riise's missed spot kick in the shootout, Liverpool completed the three-goal turnaround to hoist the big-eared trophy aloft in Istanbul.

6. Erling Haaland (Manchester City - 2023)

The latest Norwegian to lift 'Big Ears' is goal-scorer extraordinaire Erling Haaland.

He scored a remarkable 52 goals in 53 games during Man City's treble-winning campaign.

Natives flocked into a fan-park in his hometown of Bryne in Norway to watch the final draped in sky blue, and though Haaland didn't score on the night, he emerged as a champions of Europe regardless.

Now all he needs to complete his trophy collection is the Carabao Cup...