Ada's international absence a tale of acrimony and intrigue

OSLO - Ada Hegerberg's global star status was confirmed as she won the inaugural women's Ballon d'Or last week, and yet back home in Norway she also stands out for her ongoing absence from the national team ahead of the World Cup.

The 23-year-old aptly wore a gold dress as she picked up the prize at the ceremony in Paris, joining men's winner Luka Modric and best young men's player Kylian Mbappe on stage with her trophy.

A panel of soccer journalists from around the world vote for Hegerberg on the strength of her prolific form for French club Lyon, with whom she has won three consecutive Champions League titles.

Back in Norway, meanwhile, there have been renewed calls for her to end her exile from the national team.

Hegerberg slammed the door on her international career in the wake of Norway's desperate showing at last year's European Championship in the Netherlands, when it finished last in its group and failed to score a single goal.

Without her, though, Norway fared better in World Cup qualifying, topping its group ahead of the Dutch to advance to next year's finals in France.

Officially, however, the door is open for Hegerberg to return any time she wants to.

"Hopefully, Ada maybe changes her mind and maybe she can be a part of the national team in the future," Norway coach Martin Sjogren said last week.

"As a national team coach, you always want the best players but you cannot focus on the ones who don't want to be a part of it."

The Norwegian Football Association duly congratulated Hegerberg for her award on Twitter, but Sjogren said he has no intention of contacting her.

"Playing for Norway, that decision must come from Ada herself, I think."

It is nevertheless difficult to imagine the World Cup going ahead in six months without the first winner of the female Ballon d'Or - all the more so as the final will be played in Lyon.

"At the moment I would say no," Sjogren said when asked if he thought Hegerberg would change her mind and return to the national team's lineup.

"But you never know what will happen. It's still half a year until we get to the championship."

The player herself - whose elder sister Andrine plays for Paris Saint-Germain - does not seem likely to reverse her stand anytime soon.

"There would need to be a good few changes for me to consider returning," she told Norwegian broadcaster NRK after returning from the awards ceremony.

"It is not a matter of whether I should change my mind. The question is more what the FA and the national team have to do to improve, and there is a long way to go in that regard."

Prima donna?

Hegerberg's relationship with the Norway squad is perhaps summed up by the fact she was not even included in a team of the year selected by the national players' association earlier this month.

Those who don't like Hegerberg label her a "prima donna", comparing her to temperamental Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, widely regarded as having the biggest ego in the game.

In September, NRK claimed former national teammates were demanding an apology from Hegerberg for comments she made after Euro 2017.

"I always feel that I have become a worse player when I come back from national team get-togethers and that shouldn't be the case," she told newspaper Aftenposten.

Norwegian media also claimed Hegerberg had broken off all links with her former teammates on social media after they qualified for the World Cup.

"The prima donna image that some have given her is unfair ... it's a load of nonsense," her mother, Gerd Stolsmo, said in a TV interview last Monday.

Nevertheless, it is unlikely her mom's opinion will help thaw the frosty relations between Hegerberg and the Norwegian team.

Agence France-Presse