Эрлинг Холанд: Норвегийн хөлбөмбөгийн шинэ эрин

Coaching seminars held by the Norwegian Football Federation have been known to play a short video showing a 16-year-old boy taking part in a shooting drill.

Footage has been captured from behind the goal and most of the 20 attempts, to be kind, are wayward. The aspiring coaches in attendance are asked if the youngster has what it takes to play for Norway.

“Everyone says no because in the video it looks like a poor striker,” says Hakon Grottland, the long-standing head of player development within Norway’s national association.

Perhaps the distinctive blond hair, kept short at the time, provides a clue but the boy spraying shots in all directions has become Norway’s talisman and the world’s best centre-forward: Erling Haaland.

“Maybe that’s also why he has become the best because he missed the most and trained and trained,” adds Grottland. “The other thing you can clearly see in the video is that it is just Erling, a coach and the goalkeeper. The rest of the team is on the bus back to the hotel but Erling wanted to keep getting better.”

Haaland is now the man standing between England and the World Cup semi-finals.

His match-winning brace against Brazil in the last 16 delivered Norway’s greatest ever result last Sunday, and his total of seven goals has the Manchester City forward trailing only Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot.

The last month has been Haaland’s big bang. For all the goals he has plundered across elite competitions, such as the Premier League, Champions League and Bundesliga, his enormous impact on this World Cup (Norway’s first since 1998) has propelled him to new heights of stardom. The United States — and wider world — is now wide awake to Haaland’s vast appeal.

And it is not just his attacking talents. Haaland has been the World Cup’s biggest personality; a self-deprecating, smiling figurehead that has seldom looked happier than in a golden month with Norway. He orchestrated the post-match celebrations by banging the supporters’ drum after beating Brazil and then, in a moment that typified his unserious side, came for those who doubted him.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you, Wayney boy,” Haaland chuckles in his latest YouTube video responding to Wayne Rooney’s promise, made during his punditry role on the BBC, to row down Liverpool’s River Mersey if Norway were to reach the quarter-finals. “That’s all I want to see now.”

Most outside of England, though, would not be against seeing more from Haaland in this World Cup. A Norway team whose initial targets were to escape a tough group that included France and Senegal now has aspirations of reaching the last four and it is Haaland’s contributions that are making it all possible.

“He has this ability to blend,” says Geir Jordet, professor of psychology at the Norwegian School of Sport Science. “On one side this professionalism, this single-mindedness, machine-like orientation to prepare, develop and score goals. That’s part of the fascination for everyone that sees him in games.

“The other side is this player that is so relaxed, so fun and a team player. The simplest illustration of that is when his team-mates score goals. His joy is real. He seems genuinely more happy when his team-mates score than when he scores himself. We can all list players where that is definitely not the case. To have that blend is very unique.

“Everyone sees his warmth and empathy with team-mates and opponents, with contagious smiles and affectionate bear hugs. Youth coaches of his speak about how even at a young age, everyone wanted to be near him because of this magnetic personality.”

Grottland can attest to that.

“Norway is very proud of him,” he says. “He’s a guy with a big smile, a lot of positive energy. He would make his team-mates feel very comfortable. There’s something about the togetherness that you see in Erling and the other players. It’s quite unique for our national teams. It’s fantastic.”

Haaland, perhaps purposely for his brand, embodies the Norway of 2026. It is a nation that has leaned into this Viking heritage, with a pre-World Cup photoshoot depicting the squad as warriors and supporters rowing in unison with players and staff after victories.

The imagery particularly works for Haaland, 6ft 5in (196cm) and fond of a 6,000-calorie-a-day diet that includes cow hearts, liver and raw milk. On his best days, he can run over opponents with brute force, but the backstory is very different.

The extraordinary thing about Haaland is how ordinary his formative years were. Those early steps towards professional football would see him included in the Norwegian FA’s talent camps but seldom stand out.

One, held in Stavanger in June 2014, illustrates the point. Still on the books of hometown club Bryne, Haaland had been picked among the best 30 players from those born in 2000 and at the end of the camp, the coaches were asked to select a player they felt would go on and win full international honours. Not a single coach placed a mark next to Haaland’s name.

It was soon after that camp that Haaland began to grow. And rapidly so. His elder brother, Astor, tells the story of his little sibling growing 20cm in a year and putting on 20 kilograms (44lb). “Suddenly we were the same size,” he told the Viaplay documentary Haaland: The Big Decision in 2022.

Haaland now towers over his father and mentor, the former Norway international Alfie, and most opponents, but that late development is held up as an inspiration to youngsters in his homeland.

Haaland and his father in 2020 after he moved from RB Salzburg to Borussia Dortmund in Germany (Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)

Not that Haaland ever lacked confidence on his journey to the top. Brede Hangeland was Norway’s national team captain when attending one training camp that included Haaland and remembers the youngster outlining his plans to be the best forward in the world.

“Most of the 14-year-old boys there could barely look me in the eye, not Haaland,” Hangeland, now Norway’s assistant coach, told The Athletic last month.

Odegaard, Haaland’s long-standing friend, has his own recollections of that confidence. “You have changed a bit,” he tells Haaland in that Viaplay documentary. “You were more like a little b—— earlier. You have grown up more in the last couple of years.”

Odegaard is laughing when he delivers that assessment but he has long known of Haaland’s capacity to become among the very best of their era.

The numbers posted throughout Haaland’s career have allowed no other conclusions. A return of 297 goals in 364 appearances for Molde, Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City has made Haaland one of world football’s most feared centre forwards and his international record is another freakish one. He has found the net in each of the last 14 games he has played for Norway, making it 62 goals in 54 international matches.

“There were other strikers we thought were more promising at the age of 14 but a few years later he’s the best striker in the world,” says Grottland. “That says a lot about talent and how it develops.

“That was his gift. When he was 14, he wasn’t very big. He was one of the smallest players so he had to be smart in his movement and find space to be ahead of the defenders.

“Then he became this intelligent beast. If he had the physics from the start, then I don’t think he would have become this great. You see the first goal against Brazil and he has that smartness in his movement and timing. On top of that, he has extreme physics and that combined is very special.”

Goalscoring brilliance at this World Cup has driven Haaland’s spike in popularity but his commercial strategy is undeniably greasing the wheels. He started a YouTube channel last September, a platform where he knowingly provides a playful insight into life away from the pitch. It is carefully edited but also provides a glimpse of a goofy, idiosyncratic figure.

There has even been a nod to a new American audience in recent weeks. One episode, shot after his late winner had seen off Ivory Coast in Dallas during the round of 32, centred upon Haaland visiting Wild Bill’s Western Store to get kitted out like a cowboy. A Stetson was branded with EH9 and for most of the video Haaland wore a T-shirt with the message “Y’all can kiss my Dallas”.

The light-hearted takedown of Rooney this week is another episode at odds with the outwardly polished approach of the elite footballers. Previous clips recently include Haaland pretending to be “the social media guy” when an unsure American asks for a photograph at their team base.

Haaland opts for unpretentious social media output, too, through Snapchat and Instagram. He has likened his looks to Shrek and a Japanese anime character, Majin Buu. Neither can be considered a compliment but in landing on a self-effacing authenticity, Haaland is building a huge audience.

Almost 18million followers have been attracted to his Instagram account in the last month, with analysis site Social Blade detailing that 5 million of those came in the 24 hours that followed his two goals against Brazil. His YouTube channel, too, has almost 900,000 new subscribers. Googling his name on Thursday, two days out from the semi-final, even brought a special drumbeat and Norwegian emojis rowing across the screen.

Haaland is clearly enjoying his time in the U.S. “To be able to play in the World Cup, play on the biggest stage, against best teams in world, it’s very special,” he told reporters after Norway training on Thursday.

“But I try to play the game like it’s a training session. It’s important to joke around. Everyone knows me that I like to joke, have fun – that’s the key to daily life to joke around. But also train good, focus well, train well. But joke around and enjoy the moment. You just have to enjoy it.”

He was also asked about the growing attention he is receiving on American soil. “I think it’s a good thing,” he added. “I like Americans. I think they’re hilarious. I like the way they are.”

That moment of international reckoning, eliminating the five-time winners, was varnished by his lead role in beating a ceremonial drum. In a moment for the meme generation, Odegaard, his captain, had passed Haaland the two drum mallets and urged him to take centre stage.

For all he is as a superstar, a potential heir to the international thrones soon to be vacated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, it is said Haaland has no wish to be anything bigger than one member of Stale Solbakken’s squad.

Those in Norway see that as vindication of their coaching methods, where the best youngsters, like Haaland and Odegaard, have graduated through the National Team School. They push a “no a**holes culture”, where egos are not welcomed. “You don’t just teach them football, you try and teach them the value of contributing to a team,” says Hangeland.

Team-mates and staff see those values in Haaland, now the most famous face in Norway. International breaks are likened to friends meeting up “four or five times a year”, with Haaland rarely absent. The captaincy was his reward for World Cup qualification games that saw Odegaard missing through injury.

“He’s amazing on the pitch but outside the pitch too, young players look up to him,” team-mate Kristian Thorstvedt told reporters ahead of the England game. “We all learn bits from each other, but Erling has his own methods, and it’s inspirational to see what he’s doing.”

Haaland and Odegaard in training ahead of the World Cup quarter-final against England (Chris Arjoon/Getty Images)

Behind the swagger seen in the Premier League — like when singing ‘Ooh, I’ve got a good feeling” to the camera after Manchester City had beaten Arsenal in April, or telling the north Londoners’ manager Mikel Arteta to “stay humble” in September 2024 — there is also a vulnerability that jars with the robotic image he used to project.

“When I wrote my book two years ago, I wanted to interview him and asked his people about it early in the process,” says Professor Jordet, who wrote Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shoot-out.

“I’ve met him a couple of times, and I know his closest people well, so they were positive about a contribution from him, but also said he really never does such, so don’t get your hopes up.

“But after six months and no luck, they suddenly got back to me and said that there was one question Erling really wanted to answer, because he wanted people to know.

“And the quote he wanted out was essentially: ‘When I’m taking penalties, I’m s— nervous. It’s strange if there are players who are not nervous.’ That’s the other side of him. He’s genuine and honest.”

Haaland celebrates a goal against Iraq earlier in the tournament (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

And they come no bigger than England. Norway had never previously won a knockout game in a World Cup but now stand within 90 minutes of reaching a first semi-final, where Haaland could end up competing against Messi and Argentina.

Solbakken called the Brazil victory, inspired by Haaland, “the greatest day in Norwegian football history”, and the thousands who took to Oslo’s streets in the aftermath will be back to watch tomorrow’s game with England.

Haaland, more than most, will carry the hopes of a nation.

“He’s a legend already,” says Grottland. “There’s never been a more popular guy in Norway.”

And perhaps at this World Cup.