Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has a new legion of fans after his exploits at the World Cup.
Norway exited the tournament after a defeat to England at the weekend, missing out on the chance to play a first-ever World Cup semi-final.
How many goals can you see Erling Haaland scoring for Norway before he eventually retires? 🇳🇴⚽
Could he actually get near Cristiano Ronaldo's haul of 146 goals? 👀 If not, why not?
They ran England close but ultimately came up just short, losing 2-1 in Miami with Jude Bellingham the hero of the hour for the Three Lions.
The defeat meant the end of the line for Norway and Erling Haaland, who sadly cannot now win the Golden Boot.
While he would have loved that, and also to win the trophy, Haaland has still been a huge winner in terms of his global profile and popularity.
How Erling Haaland’s global profile has exploded thanks to World Cup exposure
Heading into the World Cup finals, Haaland was already a global name.
His exploits for Manchester City since his 2022 transfer have been nothing short of incredible, and that has led to him being one of the most recognisable sports stars in the World Cup.
But his fame has now gone to another level after he showed off his goalscoring prowess in North America.
Just before the tournament, Haaland had just over 40 million followers on Instagram.
Just a few weeks later, after scoring seven goals at the tournament, he now boasts a following of 67.7 million at the time of writing.
That is a rise of approximately 27 million in just six weeks.
As the Times of India point out, Haaland’s new total following is more than the combined populations of all the Scandinavian countries.
For some perspective, Lionel Messi has gained about 5.7 million new followers during the tournament so far.
Amazingly, Haaland’s following on Instagram has actually now grown larger than Manchester City’s and indeed any other Premier League club.
While Haaland’s goalscoring has captured the world’s attention, his laidback and humorous personality has been a factor behind his newfound popularity.
Haaland fully embraced his time out in North America, regularly posting on Snapchat where he has less of a filter.
He was also the subject of a hilarious video on his YouTube channel a few weeks ago, where an American fan approached asking if he and his social media were part of the Norwegian national team, unaware of his global fame.
Haaland joked he was the social media guy, and his companion was the player, before putting on a southern American accent.
There have also been other moments, such as when he beat the drum for Norway fans to perform their viral ‘Viking Row’, after the amazing win over Brazil.
In that game, many loved Haaland’s second goal, turning around after lashing the ball into the bottom corner and showing his ‘aura’.
In the dressing room after, he posted a selfie with the caption ‘Well well well’, which was lapped up by fans. The post is far and away his most ‘liked ever’, with 28 million to date.
It is genuinely amazing to see this kind of growth in global popularity for Haaland, and it’s something he absolutely deserves given how hard he works, how unproblematic he is, and how much talent he has.
