Man-giant Erling Haaland is perhaps the most destructive striker in world football today. He has a remarkable 55 goals in 49 games for Norway, who Haaland has helped steer back to their first World Cup since 1998.
With his physical attributes, pace, deadly finish with his head or both feet, the 25-year-old is a 1.95m, 95kg Viking scoring monster who has smashed goal records since signing for Manchester City in July 2022.
The big move came after impressive earlier spells at Molde FK, Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund, the club where Haaland had scored 86 goals in 89 games in two-and-a-half seasons, winning the German Cup and 2020-21 Bundesliga Player of the Season.
He has an astonishing senior scoring rate, with an overall 296 goals in 380 games. For City he has 159 in 193.
Haaland was born in Leeds on July 1 2000, while father Alfie, who later also turned out for City, was playing in the Premier League there.
His trajectory from youth football was quick. After debuting in the Norwegian second tier for Bryne at 15, he moved to Molde in 2018 and was top scorer that season with 12 goals in 25 league games at 18. That led to the move to Red Bull, where, after 28 goals in 22 games, Dortmund came knocking.
Haaland scored the most goals in an EPL season with 36 for champions City in 2022-23 and is the quickest player to score eight hat-tricks. He has won the EPL twice, FA Cup and League Cup once and the 2022-23 Uefa Champions League.
He scored a ridiculous 16 of Norway’s 37 goals in eight games seeing off Italy, Israel, Estonia and Moldova in Uefa’s Group I of the World Cup qualifiers.
Norway have a solid squad that includes Arsenal midfielder Martin Ødegaard and rising wing talent Antonio Nusa (RB Leipzig). If they are to make an impact at the World Cup out of a Group I that also includes France, Senegal and Iraq, it will be Haaland’s goals and attacking destructive force that make the difference.
- Age: 25
- Club: Manchester City
- Previous clubs: Bryne, FK Molde, Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund
- Previous World Cups: None
- International caps (goals): 49 (55)
- Club honours:
- RB Salzburg: Austrian Bundesliga (1) 2018–19; Austrian Cup (1) 2018–19;
- Borussia Dortmund: DFB-Pokal (1) 2020–21;
- Manchester City: Premier League (2) 2022–23, 2023–24; FA Cup (1) 2022–23; League Cup (1) 2025–26; FA Community Shield (1) 2024; Uefa Champions League (1) 2022–23; Uefa Super Cup (1) 2023
• TimesLIVE, Sowetan, The Herald and Daily Dispatch will run a series profiling the STARS OF THE 2026 WORLD CUP every Friday until the tournament kickoff on June 11. There will be a GROUP PROFILE every Tuesday.
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