Erling Haaland

Erling Braut Haaland (né Håland, Urban East Norwegian: [ˈhòːlɑn]; 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.
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, 2023 and 2024. 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 matches. 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 the nation's all-time top goalscorer.
Erling Braut Haaland was born Erling Braut Håland 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. In 2004, at the age of three, he moved to Bryne, his parents' hometown in Norway.
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. 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.
Haaland started in the academy of his hometown club Bryne at the age of five.
During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Haaland played for Bryne 2 (Bryne's reserve team) in the Norwegian fourth tier and impressed, scoring 18 goals in 14 matches. He debuted for Bryne 2 on 5 October 2015 in the Group 6 of the 2015 fourth division against Start reserves (0–1) and five days later he scored his first goal on senior level against Hei in a 2–1 defeat away to Heistad. The following season he appeared more often in the Bryne 2 squad and he scored his first career hat-trick 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.
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. His first game with Bryne FK was a second-tier 1. divisjon match against Ranheim on 12 May.
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 TSG Hoffenheim before eventually moving to Molde to play under Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Haaland made 16 total senior appearances for Bryne.
On 1 February 2017, Molde announced the signing of 16-year-old Haaland. He made his debut for the club on 26 April in a Norwegian Cup match against Volda TI, scoring on his debut in a 3–2 win. Haaland's debut in the Eliteserien came on 4 June, being brought on as a 71st-minute substitute against Sarpsborg 08 and receiving a yellow card in just over a minute of play on the pitch. On 6 August 2017, Haaland scored the winner for Molde in the 77th minute against Tromsø IL, his first goal in the league. His second strike of the season came on 17 September, as he bagged the decisive goal against Viking FK in a 3–2 victory. In the aftermath of the game, Haaland received criticism from teammate Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson for celebrating his goal towards Viking supporters. Haaland finished his first season at Molde with four goals in 20 appearances.
On 1 July 2018, Haaland scored four goals in the opening 21 minutes against Brann, securing his team a 4–0 victory over the unbeaten league leaders at the time. After the match, Molde manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær compared Haaland's style of play to Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku, and said the club had rejected several bids for the striker from different clubs. In the following match a week later, Haaland continued his scoring run with a brace against Vålerenga in a 5–1 win. He scored his first goal in UEFA competition on 26 July, converting a penalty in Molde's 3–0 Europa League qualifying victory against KF Laçi. Due to a sprained ankle, Haaland did not participate in Molde's last three league matches of the season. For his performances in the 2018 Eliteserien, Haaland received the Eliteserien Breakthrough of the Year award. He finished the 2018 season as Molde's top goalscorer, scoring 16 goals in 30 matches across all competitions.
On 19 August 2018, Austrian Bundesliga champions Red Bull Salzburg announced that Haaland would join the club on 1 January 2019, signing a five-year contract. The Athletic's Phil Hay would later reveal that prior to his move to Salzburg, Haaland was also subject of an offer from his father's former club Leeds United. He made his debut for the club on 17 February, the 2018–19 Austrian Cup quarter-finals against Wiener Neustädter, and scored his first goal on 12 May in the Austrian Bundesliga 2–1 win over LASK.
On 19 July, he scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 7–1 Austrian Cup win against SC-ESV Parndorf, and followed this up with his first hat-trick in the league on 10 August, scoring three in a 5–2 victory against Wolfsberger AC. He got a third hat-trick for Salzburg on 14 September in a 7–2 victory over TSV Hartberg; this was the sixth consecutive league game Haaland had scored in, with 11 total goals. Three days later, Haaland made his debut in the UEFA Champions League against Genk, where he scored three goals in the first half of an eventual 6–2 victory, his fourth overall hat-trick for Salzburg, becoming the only player to score a first-half hat-trick on competition debut.
In his next two matches of the Champions League season, Haaland recorded a goal against Liverpool at Anfield and a further two against Napoli, becoming only the second teenager after Karim Benzema in the history of the competition to score in each of his first three appearances. His six goals were also the most scored by any player in their first three Champions League matches. After converting a penalty in Salzburg's reverse fixture against Napoli, Haaland became the first teenager to score in his first four matches in the competition, and only the fourth player of any age to achieve this feat, following Zé Carlos, Alessandro Del Piero and Diego Costa. He then scored all three goals in Salzburg's 3–0 victory at Wolfsberger AC on 10 November, recording his fifth hat-trick of the season and his second against Wolfsberg.
On 27 November, Haaland came off the bench to score another goal against Genk, joining Del Piero, Serhiy Rebrov, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski as the only players to score in the first five matches of a Champions League group stage, and becoming the first teenager to score in five consecutive matches in the competition. However, he would fail to find the net in Salzburg's final group match against Liverpool, as his team lost 2–0 and were eliminated from the competition. This would prove to be Haaland's final game for the club; he departed Salzburg having recorded 29 goals, with 28 of these coming in only 22 appearances made during the 2019–20 season.
Despite being a reported target of Manchester United and Juventus, Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund confirmed the signing of Haaland on 29 December 2019, three days before the winter transfer window opened, for a fee reported to be in the region of €20 million, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.
Haaland made his debut for Dortmund away to FC Augsburg on 18 January 2020, coming on as a second-half substitute and scoring a hat-trick within 23 minutes in a 5–3 win. This made him only the second player in Dortmund history after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score three goals on their Bundesliga debut. Six days later, Haaland once again came off the bench, making his second club appearance in Dortmund's match against FC Köln. He scored after 12 minutes and netted a second goal 10 minutes later, contributing to a 5–1 victory. Haaland became the first Bundesliga player to score five goals in his opening two matches, as well as the fastest player to reach that tally (56 minutes played). Despite being on the pitch in the league for only an hour, he won January's Bundesliga Player of the Month award. Haaland got a brace against Union Berlin on 1 February, becoming the first player in history to score seven goals in their first three Bundesliga matches.
On 18 February, Haaland scored both Dortmund goals in their 2–1 first leg victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16. This brought his total to 10 Champions League goals for the 2019–20 campaign in only his eighth overall appearance in the competition, adding to the eight he had scored for Salzburg in the group stage. Dortmund would lose 2–0 in the return leg on 11 March, however, as Haaland saw elimination from the competition for a second time in the same season. Following the Bundesliga's return on 16 May in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Haaland scored Dortmund's opener of their 4–0 Revierderby win over Schalke 04, his tenth goal of the Bundesliga season. On 20 June, he scored both goals in a 2–0 win against RB Leipzig to secure second place for Dortmund, which would lead to Champions League football in the following season. Haaland concluded his 2019–20 campaign with 44 goals in 40 club appearances across all competitions played for both Salzburg and Dortmund.
On 19 September 2020, in Dortmund's first match of the new season, Haaland scored a brace in a 3–0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. He scored his team's equaliser in their 2–3 Der Klassiker defeat to Bayern Munich in the DFL-Supercup on 30 September, and again found the net against Bayern when the sides met in the league on 7 November, with Dortmund losing 2–3 once more. On 21 November, Haaland scored four goals in 32 minutes of a 5–2 away victory against Hertha BSC. These five goals in November saw him crowned the Bundesliga Player of the Month for a second time.
Haaland continued his goalscoring feats in the Champions League, scoring six times in the first four matches of the 2020–21 group stage, with his brace in a 3–0 win over Club Brugge on 24 November making him the fastest player to record 15 Champions League goals; he had reached this benchmark in 12 matches. Hours before Dortmund's fifth group match against Lazio on 2 December, however, the club announced that Haaland had suffered a hamstring injury, which kept him out of action until after the new year.
Haaland made his return against VfL Wolfsburg on 3 January 2021. He scored a brace away against RB Leipzig in a 3–1 win on 9 January, and another two in a 4–2 defeat to Mönchengladbach on 22 January. On 17 February, he scored two goals in Dortmund's 3–2 away victory against Sevilla in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. In Dortmund's reverse league fixture against Bayern at the Allianz Arena on 6 March, Haaland scored twice within the opening 10 minutes to give his team a 2–0 lead. However, he was substituted off in the second half after picking up a knock, as Bayern rallied to win the match 4–2. Haaland's second goal was the 100th of his senior career, reaching this milestone in 146 appearances.
Haaland scored another brace against Sevilla in the second leg on 9 March in a 2–2 draw, advancing to the quarter-finals 5–4 on aggregate. With only 14 matches played, this made him both the fastest and youngest player to reach 20 goals in the competition, also becoming the first player to score multiple times in four consecutive Champions League appearances. After missing two matches due to deep bruising, Haaland returned to Dortmund's starting line-up on 13 May for the 2021 DFB-Pokal final; he scored a brace in his team's 4–1 win over Leipzig, securing his first title with the club. He ended the season with 41 goals in all competitions, including 27 in the league, which won him the fan-voted Bundesliga Player of the Season award, and finished the season as the top scorer of the Champions League with 10 goals, later being awarded the competition's best forward.
Haaland started off the 2021–22 season with a hat-trick versus Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on 7 August 2021. A week later, on matchday one of the Bundesliga, he scored a brace and assisted two goals as Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt 5–2. During the first months of the season, Haaland was sidelined with a hamstring injury, returning on 16 October and scoring a brace against Mainz in a 3–1 victory. Shortly after, Haaland suffered a hip flexor injury, which sidelined him for two months. He made his return on 27 November, scoring his 50th Bundesliga goal in a 3–1 victory over Wolfsburg, setting a new record for the fewest appearances and also became the youngest player to score 50 league goals.
On 10 May, Dortmund announced that Haaland would be leaving at the end of the season to sign for Premier League club Manchester City. Four days later, he bid farewell to the club at the Westfalenstadion prior to Dortmund's final match against Hertha BSC, and scored Dortmund's first goal in a 2–1 win.
On 10 May 2022, Premier League club Manchester City announced they had reached a deal to sign Haaland after activating his €60 million (£51.2 million) release clause. The deal was formalised on 13 June, with City confirming that Haaland would be joining the club on 1 July on a five-year contract. He made his competitive debut on 30 July, playing 90 minutes of a 3–1 defeat to Liverpool in the 2022 FA Community Shield.
Haaland scored twice on his league debut against West Ham United on 7 August 2022, the only goals of a 2–0 away victory. On 27 August, he scored his first Premier League hat-trick in a 4–2 win against Crystal Palace, and recorded his second, a perfect hat-trick, four days later in a 6–0 win against Nottingham Forest. This made Haaland the fastest individual in Premier League history to score two hat-tricks, beating the previous record by 14 matches; he was later voted Premier League Player of the Month for August, his first month playing in the league.
On 6 September, Haaland made his Champions League debut for the club, getting a brace against Sevilla and becoming the first player to score 25 goals in their first 20 Champions League appearances. He became the first player to score more than one goal on competition debut for three different clubs. In City's second group stage match a week later against his former club Borussia Dortmund, Haaland scored an acrobatic effort late in the contest to secure his side a 2–1 comeback victory. His winner was subsequently voted Champions League Goal of the Week by fans, and would later go on to be selected as the competition's Goal of the Season by UEFA's Technical Observer panel.
On 2 October, Haaland became the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick in three successive home matches during City's 6–3 derby win against Manchester United, additionally earning two assists. He also became the quickest player in Premier League history to score three hat-tricks, doing so in eight league matches and surpassing the previous record of 48 set by Michael Owen in 1998, as well as halving Alan Shearer's record of scoring three hat-tricks in a ten-match spell set during the 1994–95 season. Haaland's brace in City's 3–1 away win over Leeds United on 28 December took his tally to 20 goals in 14 league matches, becoming the fastest player in history to reach 20 Premier League goals and beating Sunderland's Kevin Phillips' previous record by seven matches. On 22 January 2023, he scored a fourth hat-trick of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers, giving him a total of 25 Premier League goals after just 19 matches; this surpassed the top scorers of the previous season, Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min, who both scored 23 league goals across the entire campaign.
On 14 March, Haaland scored five goals in a 7–0 round of 16 victory against RB Leipzig, tying Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano for the most goals scored in a single Champions League match. He also set the new record for fastest time to score five goals in a Champions League match. In doing so, he reached 39 goals across all competitions, breaking Tommy Johnson's club record of 38 goals scored in a single season for City set in 1928–29. During Manchester City's FA Cup quarter-final against Burnley four days later, Haaland scored his sixth hat-trick of the season, passing the 40-goal mark across all competitions.
On 11 April, Haaland scored the third goal of City's 3–0 Champions League win against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, his 45th goal of the season overall. This broke the previous record of 44 goals across all competitions in a season by a Premier League player held by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mohamed Salah. Haaland registered two assists and a goal in his side's 4–1 home victory against league leaders Arsenal on 26 April, closing the gap between them and City in the table to just two points while the latter still had two matches in hand. He would then score his 50th goal of the campaign across all competitions on 30 April against Fulham. His six goals and two assists during April saw him win the league's Player of the Month for a second time.
On 3 May, in City's return fixture against West Ham, Haaland scored his 35th league goal of the campaign, surpassing Shearer and Andy Cole's joint record for the most goals scored in a single Premier League season. A week later, he was named FWA Footballer of the Year. He won by a record margin, earning 82% of the vote ahead of Arsenal's Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard and becoming only the fourth player to claim the award in their debut season. He would also go on to be voted PFA Players' Player of the Year by his colleagues in August. Haaland won his first trophy with Manchester City after they clinched the 2022–23 Premier League title on 20 May. By assisting Phil Foden's goal in a draw against Brighton & Hove Albion on 24 May, he reached 44 combined league goals and assists, thereby equaling Thierry Henry's record for most total goal contributions in a 38-game Premier League season. Haaland's debut season in England earned him the Premier League Golden Boot, after finishing as the league's top goalscorer, and the European Golden Shoe, given to the top domestic scorer in Europe. With 36 goals in 35 appearances, he set the new record for highest number of goals scored in a Premier League season.
Haaland played the entirety of City's FA Cup final victory over Manchester United on 3 June, securing his second title with the club. He then played another 90 minutes in the following week's Champions League final against Inter Milan. Despite Haaland struggling to have a large impact on the match, City would win 1–0 to earn a maiden Champions League title and achieve only the second-ever continental treble by an English side. With 12 goals, Haaland finished as the top scorer of the Champions League season for a second time, joining Messi as the only players to accomplish this feat twice before turning 23. Haaland would be subsequently named the UEFA Men's Player of the Year in August, ahead of Messi and Manchester City teammate Kevin De Bruyne.
Manchester City began their 2023–24 Premier League season on 11 August 2023, with Haaland scoring a brace in a 3–0 away win against newly promoted team Burnley. Just days later, Haaland would win his first trophy of the season following City's victory over Europa League winners Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup; although not scoring during the match, he did convert the first penalty in the shoot-out following the end of regulation. On 29 August, Haaland was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year, having earlier been included in the PFA Team of the Year for the Premier League.
With his first three goals of the season, Haaland became the fastest player to reach 100 league goals in Europe's top 5 leagues, accomplishing the feat in just 103 appearances, surpassing the previous record of 100 goals in 133 appearances set by Ronaldo.
After registering a seventh club hat-trick plus an assist against Fulham on 2 September, Haaland became the fastest ever player to achieve 50 Premier League goal involvements (goals plus assists); with just 39 appearances in the competition, he eclipsed Andy Cole's previous record by four matches. On 25 October, Haaland scored his first two Champions League goals of the season in a 3–1 win at Young Boys. On 29 October, he recorded two goals and one assist in a 3–0 derby win over Manchester United at Old Trafford. The following day, he was presented with the Gerd Müller Trophy at the 2023 Ballon d'Or awards ceremony, given to the player with the most goals scored for club and country across a single season. On 25 November, Haaland became the fastest player to score 50 Premier League goals in a 1–1 draw with Liverpool; with just 48 appearances, he comfortably beat the previous record of 65 matches by Andy Cole. After suffering a bone stress injury in his foot in early December, Haaland would miss nearly two months of action, including City's success at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup, and would not return to the pitch until the end of January 2024.
On 20 February 2024, Haaland scored the sole goal of a home win over Brentford, joining Harry Kane as the only players to have scored against every Premier League team they had faced. A week later, he netted five goals in a 6–2 victory against Luton Town in the FA Cup, marking the second time he achieved such a feat for the club and becoming the first player to do so twice. Additionally, he matched his club's record for most goals by an individual in an FA Cup match, a record previously held by Frank Roberts in 1926 and Bobby Marshall in 1930. Furthermore, Haaland's accomplishment marked the first instance of a player scoring five goals in the competition since George Best in 1970. On 4 May, Haaland scored four goals in a 5–1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, his first league hat-trick of the year and third of the season in all competitions.
Haaland scored both goals in City's 2–0 vital win away to Tottenham Hotspur on 14 May, bringing his side back to the top of the Premier League table with one match remaining. Five days later, City would successfully defend their title following a 3–1 victory against West Ham. Haaland also secured a second consecutive Premier League Golden Boot, with 27 goals in 31 matches. However, he would be unable to retain the FA Cup, failing to score in City's 2–1 final rematch defeat to Manchester United on 25 May.
After failing to score in City's opening 2024 Community Shield victory over Manchester United, but having successfully converted his penalty in the shoot-out, Haaland scored the club's first goal of the league season in a 2–0 victory at Chelsea on 18 August 2024, in what was his 100th appearance for City. On 25 August, Haaland netted his first hat-trick of the season with the help of a penalty in a 4–1 victory against newly-promoted Ipswich Town, his seventh Premier League hat-trick. In the following match on 31 August against West Ham United, he recorded another hat-trick in a 3–1 away victory, tying Harry Kane as the active player with the most Premier League hat-tricks, with eight. Haaland's hat-trick against West Ham also allowed Manchester City to surpass Liverpool as the club with the most hat-tricks in the Premier League. Haaland's seven goals after three matches broke the record of six set by former City player Edin Džeko, for the most goals in the first three Premier League matches of a season; he also became the first player to score two hat-tricks in a team's first three league matches since Paul Jewell of Bradford City in the 1994–95 season.
On 14 September, Haaland scored another two goals in a 2–1 victory over Brentford, eclipsing Wayne Rooney's record tally of eight goals in the first four matches of a Premier League season achieved with Manchester United in the 2011–12 season, after only deciding to play the day before following the death of a close family friend. On 22 September, Haaland matched Cristiano Ronaldo's record of reaching 100 goals across all competitions for one club in 105 appearances in Europe's top five leagues, when he scored the opener in a 2–2 draw against Arsenal.
On 17 January 2025, Haaland signed to extend his contract with the club until 2034, while his previous deal was due to expire in 2027. The deal is the longest in Premier League history, with Haaland reportedly earning £500,000 per week with this new agreement. Following former club captain Kyle Walker's loan departure, Haaland was nominated to take up the captaincy by head coach Pep Guardiola. He debuted as captain on 15 February, in a 4–0 win over Newcastle United. After scoring against Brighton & Hove Albion on 15 March, Haaland overtook Alan Shearer to become the fastest player to reach 100 goal involvements in the Premier League, doing so in 94 matches.
Haaland plays for Norway, and has represented them at various age groups. On 27 March 2018, while with the Norway under-19 side, 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. On 22 July 2018, Haaland scored a penalty against Italy in a 1–1 draw during the tournament finals. 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. 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. 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.
Born in Leeds, Haaland was eligible to play for England, but only wished to play for Norway according to coach Gareth Southgate.
On 28 August 2019, Haaland was named by manager Lars Lagerbäck to the Norway senior team squad to face Malta and Sweden in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches, debuting on 5 September 2019 against the former opponent. 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. Three days later, he scored a brace in a 5–1 victory against Northern Ireland.
On 11 October, Haaland scored his first international hat-trick in Norway's 4–0 victory over Romania in a Nations League B match, bringing his tally for the senior team to six goals in six matches played.
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. 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.
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. 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.
On 10 October 2024, Haaland scored a brace in a 3–0 Nations League win over Slovenia, reaching 34 international goals to become Norway's all-time top scorer at the age of just 24, and overtaking Juve's record that had stood since 1937. On 17 November, he recorded a fourth international hat-trick in a 5–0 win against Kazakhstan, helping Norway clinch promotion to League A of the Nations League for the first time.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
After scoring a goal, Haaland is known to perform a "meditation" celebration, in which he assumes the lotus position; the celebration has been featured in the FIFA series of video games.
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. His manager at City, Pep Guardiola, opined that Haaland has the potential to get even better. 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". In 2024, FIFPRO declared him to be "the deadliest striker in football today".
Haaland is the son of the Norwegian former footballer Alfie Haaland and former women's heptathlon athlete Gry Marita Braut. In a 2017 interview with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Haaland said that "The dream is to win the Premier League with Leeds". His cousins Jonatan Braut Brunes and Albert Tjåland are also professional footballers.
Haaland is a practitioner of meditation.
In 2016, Haaland and 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 amassed over 12 million views on YouTube.
In October 2024, Haaland announced via social media that he was expecting a first child with girlfriend Isabel Haugseng Johansen. His child was born in December.
Red Bull Salzburg
Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City
Norway U17
Individual