England advanced to the World Cup 2026 semi-finals with a controversial quarter-final victory over Norway, overturning an early deficit to win after Jude Bellingham's equaliser in first-half stoppage time. Andreas Schjelderup had given Norway the lead, but the match turned on a disputed sequence where goalkeeper Orjan Nyland's goal kick appeared to strike the spidercam cable before falling to Elliot Anderson, who teed up Anthony Gordon for the cross that Bellingham finished.

Norway's players and coach Stale Solbakken immediately protested to referee Clement Turpin, arguing the ball had deviated unnaturally off the overhead wire. Solbakken said multiple bench staff saw the contact, though the referee received no alert. FIFA later issued a statement citing the ball's internal sensor, which detected no "heartbeat" peak that would indicate contact with the cable, concluding there was no evidence of a touch.

The incident echoed the tournament's earlier controversy when Portugal eliminated Croatia after ball-chip technology ruled out a stoppage-time equaliser for a marginal offside touch. England coach Thomas Tuchel acknowledged his side's good fortune in decisive moments, though he insisted the win was not solely down to luck. The result extends England's run while raising fresh questions about the reliability of overhead camera systems at major tournaments.