Erling Haaland
Erling Braut Haaland (né Håland; Urban East Norwegian: [ˈhòːlɑn];[5] born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester City and the Norway national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is known for his speed, strength, positioning, and finishing inside the box. In his debut Premier League season, Haaland broke the record for the most goals scored by a player in a single season, with 36.[6]
Coming through the youth system, Haaland played for Norwegian sides Bryne and Molde, before relocating to Austria with Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019. His performances there earned him a move to Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where he won the DFB-Pokal in 2021. In the summer of 2022, he transferred to Manchester City for a fee of €60 million (£51.2 million), and was instrumental in the club winning a continental treble in his debut campaign; his 52 goals across all competitions was the most ever for a Premier League player. Haaland was named the league's Young Player and Player of the Season, becoming the first player to win both awards in the same year.
Haaland has won several individual awards and broken various records during his career, including the 2020 Golden Boy award, while in 2021 he was named Bundesliga Player of the Season, in addition to his inclusion in the FIFA FIFPro World11 for 2021, 2022 and 2023. He has also broken multiple Premier League records, including most goals scored in a season, the quickest individual to score two, three, four and five hat-tricks, and the first in league history to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home games. In 2023, he won the Premier League Golden Boot, the European Golden Shoe and the Gerd Müller Trophy for his goalscoring success. In the same year, his performances led him to be named UEFA Men's Player of the Year, IFFHS World's Best Player and finish runner-up in the Ballon d'Or.
Haaland has represented Norway at various youth levels. In the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, he won the tournament's Golden Boot after scoring a record nine goals in a single match. He made his senior international debut in September 2019, and is currently the nation's second-highest all-time top goalscorer.
Early life
Haaland was born on 21 July 2000 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, as his father Alfie Haaland was playing for Leeds United in the Premier League at the time.[7] In 2004, at the age of three, he moved to Bryne, his parents' hometown in Norway.[8][9] Along with playing football from an early age, Haaland took part in various other sports as a child, including handball, golf, and track and field.[10] He also reportedly achieved a world record in his age category for the standing long jump when he was five, with a recorded distance of 1.63 metres in 2006.[11]
Club career
Bryne
Haaland started in the academy of his hometown club Bryne at the age of five.[12][13]
During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Haaland played for Bryne FK 2 (Bryne's reserve team) in the Norwegian fourth tier and impressed, scoring 18 goals in 14 matches.[14] He debuted for Bryne 2 on 5 October 2015 in the Group 6 of the 2015 fourth division against Start reserves (0–1) [15] and five days later he scored his first goal on senior level against Hei in an away 2–1 defeat at Heistad.[16] The following season he appeared more often in the Bryne 2 squad and he scored his first career hat-trick[17] on 19 September 2016, aged 16 and 2 months, in an away 5–3 win over Vard Haugesund 2 in the Group 6 of the Norwegian fourth tier.[18]
In May 2016, Gaute Larsen was sacked as Bryne manager, and youth coach Berntsen was promoted to caretaker manager. Having worked closely with Haaland in other youth teams, the interim manager handed the teenager his first start, three months before his 16th birthday.[19][13] His first game with Bryne FK was a second-tier 1. divisjon match against Ranheim on 12 May.[20]
After having initially being deployed as a winger, Berntsen put Haaland in his favoured central role as a striker after a few matches. Although he failed to score in his breakthrough season at Bryne, Haaland was offered a trial by German club 1899 Hoffenheim before eventually moving to Molde to play under Ole Gunnar Solskjær.[19] Haaland made 16 total senior appearances for Bryne.[14]
International career
Youth
Haaland plays for Norway, and has represented them at various age groups. On 27 March 2018, while with the Norway under-19 side,[143] Haaland scored a hat-trick against Scotland in a 5–4 victory, helping his country secure qualification to the 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship.[144] On 22 July 2018, Haaland scored a penalty against Italy in a 1–1 draw during the tournament finals.[145] On 30 May 2019, Haaland scored nine goals in the Norway under-20 team's 12–0 win against Honduras at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Lublin, Poland.[146][147] This was Norway's biggest ever win at U-20 level, as well as Honduras' heaviest ever defeat. Haaland also set a new U-20 World Cup record for most goals scored by a single player in a match, with the result additionally being the biggest win by any team in the history of the tournament.[148] Despite the Norwegians being eliminated in the group stage, and Haaland not scoring in any other matches at the tournament, he still won the Golden Boot as the competition's top scorer.[149]
Senior
Due to being born in Leeds, Haaland was eligible to play for England but manager Gareth Southgate stated Haaland only wished to play for Norway.[150] Haaland was named by manager Lars Lagerbäck to the Norway senior team squad on 28 August 2019, to face Malta and Sweden in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches; he made his senior national team debut on 5 September 2019 against Malta.[151] On 4 September 2020, Haaland scored his first senior international goal for Norway in a 1–2 loss against Austria in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League B.[152] Three days later, he scored a brace in a 5–1 victory against Northern Ireland.[153] On 11 October, Haaland scored his first international hat-trick in Norway's 4–0 win over Romania in a Nations League B match, bringing his tally for the senior team to six goals in six matches played.[154]
During the September 2021 international break, Haaland scored five goals in three World Cup qualification matches, including a second hat-trick for Norway in a 5–1 victory against Gibraltar.[155] With six goals in League B between June and September 2022, he finished as the joint-top scorer of the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League.[156]
Haaland's brace in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Cyprus on 12 October 2023 brought his international tally to 27 goals in 27 appearances, surpassing Einar Gundersen as Norway's second-highest all-time top scorer.[157] On 5 June 2024, Haaland scored a third hat-trick for his country in a 3–0 friendly win against Kosovo, bringing him within three goals of Norwegian top scorer Jørgen Juve.[158]
Player profile
Style of play
A prolific goalscorer and widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, Haaland has all the attributes of a complete centre-forward.[159][160][161] He uses his sizeable frame to hold play up effectively and involve others. He has the pace and clever movement to run in behind, he can dribble and create, and he can finish with both feet and his head. He usually comes deep to collect the ball to help his team build play, often looking to spread the ball wide for a teammate, before turning and sprinting towards goal. He sometimes comes too deep for the defenders to follow him; as such he has the awareness to turn on the ball and create from a forward-facing position. In the penalty area he makes small, sharp movements to spot an opportunity for a teammate to attempt to find him in space, and can change the line on which he is running and accelerate into that space, making him extremely difficult for defenders to read.[162][163]
Haaland uses his body well when playing with his back to goal, protecting the ball effectively as he tries to bring it under control. He uses his strength to secure possession when under pressure and is also effective in providing his team's defenders with some respite following a clearance. His creativity is most apparent when he drifts into the left inside channel. His primary aim is always to get a shot off, but he also has the vision and skill to pick out a delayed run from midfield in the centre. His ability to carry the ball at pace also helps create for others, especially on the counter-attack.[164][165] Even though he is less involved in possession than a typical striker, his calmness, patience, timing, and off-the-ball movement have a huge impact in build-up plays.[166]
Haaland idolises Zlatan Ibrahimović and Cristiano Ronaldo, but also cites Michu, Jamie Vardy, Sergio Agüero, and Robin van Persie as inspirations, and credits Virgil van Dijk and Sergio Ramos as two of the toughest defenders he has played against.[167][168][169]
Reception
After his record breaking first season in England, Gary Neville proclaimed that Haaland is "truly unique" and that he has the skill and strength of Wayne Rooney and the talent and finishing of Harry Kane and Ronaldo Nazário.[170] His manager at City, Pep Guardiola, opined that Haaland has the potential to get even better.[171] In 2022, Jürgen Klopp labelled Haaland as the "best striker in the world" and stated that "physically he sets new standards, the combination of being really physical and technical and sensational awareness, his orientation on the pitch is exceptional, he knows always where the decisive gaps are, barely offside".[172] In 2024, FIFPRO declared him to be "the deadliest striker in football today".[173]
Personal life
Haaland is the son of the Norwegian former footballer Alfie Haaland and former women's heptathlon athlete Gry Marita Braut.[174] In a 2017 interview with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Haaland said that "The dream is to win the Premier League with Leeds".[175] His cousins Jonatan Braut Brunes and Albert Tjåland are also professional footballers.[176][177]
Haaland is a practitioner of meditation.[178]
In 2016, Haaland – along with his Norway under-17 teammates Erik Botheim and Erik Tobias Sandberg, under the group name Flow Kingz – released a single entitled "Kygo jo". The song has been viewed millions of times on YouTube.[179][180]
Red Bull Salzburg
Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City
Norway U17
Individual