Erling Haaland Is the World Cup's Most Entertaining Star – And It's Not Even Close

Erling Haaland arrived at the World Cup as one of the most feared strikers on the planet. He will leave as one of its most entertaining personalities. Between an irreverent social media presence, ironic encounters with fans, and a seeming indifference to his own celebrity, the Norwegian striker has offered a refreshing alternative to the media-trained image we have come to expect from sports stars. In the span of a few weeks, he may have unwittingly created a whole new generation of Norway football fans.

When he is not scoring goals – and he has done a lot of that – Haaland has spent the World Cup documenting everything else on social media accounts that he still seems to control himself. Rather than scripted sponsored content, his tens of millions of followers have seen him eating at New York's legendary Katz's Delicatessen, slipping into an attempt at a Southern drawl, and otherwise behaving like a 25-year-old traveling in the US. In one widely shared clip, Haaland tells fans he is Norway's "social media guy" before posing for photos. One follower on Instagram wrote that they are not even a soccer fan but follow him anyway, and that one of their favorite stories was just a bunch of pictures from practice with a picture of him in an infrared sauna with the caption "infrared sauna" before and after.

Would you know it, Haaland is an avid collector of Hermès Birkin bags. The revelation has prompted a fresh wave of double takes as new fans work their way through the ever-growing catalogue of Haaland facts. Fashion commentators have highlighted several of the rare bags he has been photographed with, including a black-and-orange HAC Casaque 40, an Evercalf Toile Cargo Haut à Courroies 40, and an Endless Road HAC Birkin 50. All three are sought-after designs that command tens of thousands of euros on the resale market.

Few footballers seem happier to laugh at themselves than Haaland. He has compared himself to Shrek, deadpanned with social media followers, and talked about sleeping with footballs, taping his mouth shut at night, and spending time in infrared saunas. One of the more unlikely stories to resurface during the World Cup involves him ignoring Spider-Man. On Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast earlier this year, Haaland explained that he once received a direct message from the Spider-Man star – and ignored it because he had no idea who Tom Holland was. He admitted it was a bit embarrassing.

Unlike some of the sport's more tightly wound figures, Haaland seems genuinely to be having fun in the pressure cooker that is the World Cup. After reaching the knockout stages, Haaland and some of his teammates joined Norway supporters in the now-famous Viking row celebrations. When asked about a decisive group match against France, he said they would "probably win" – before adding that France would "probably win the whole thing." At a World Cup full of polished soundbites, Haaland has rarely sounded like he is reading from the same script twice. Norway face France tonight at 9 p.m. CET. Win or lose, Haaland will likely be entertaining – whether on the pitch, on Instagram, or both. And that, in a tournament often defined by sterile press conferences and cautious answers, is something worth celebrating.

Written by Christiane Hofreiter christiane.hofreiter@alpineweekly.com