Erling Haaland

Bryne

Haaland started playing at the academy of his hometown club Bryne at the age of five. Five of the players from this youth team went on play on Norway youth national teams. During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, he played for Bryne 2 (Bryne's reserve team) in the Norwegian fourth tier, scoring 18 goals in 18 matches. The following season he scored his first career hat-trick at the age of 16. In May 2016, Gaute Larsen was fired 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 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 senior appearances for Bryne.

Molde

On 1 February 2017, Molde announced the signing of the 16-year-old Haaland. He made his debut for the club on 26 April in a Norwegian Cup match against Volda TI, scoring once in a 3–2 win. Haaland's debut in the Eliteserien came on 4 June. He came on as a substitute in the 71st minute against Sarpsborg 08, and he received a yellow card within two…

2015–2018: Youth level

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.

2019–2021: Senior debut and first major tournament

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…

Erling Braut Haaland was born on 21 July 2000 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, while his father Alf-Inge Haaland was playing football for Leeds United. As a result, Haaland grew up as a supporter of Leeds. In 2004, at age three, he moved to Bryne, his parents' hometown in Norway. His mother, Gry Marita Braut, was a national heptathlon champion in Norway in the 1990s. In addition to football, Haaland participated 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 (5 ft 4 in).

Family and name

Haaland is the son of the Norwegian former footballer Alf-Inge Haaland and former heptathlete Gry Marita Braut. On his mother's side, his first cousins Jonatan Braut Brunes, Emma Braut Brunes, and Albert Braut Tjåland are also professional footballers, as was his great-uncle Gabriel Høyland. He changed the spelling of his surname from Håland to Haaland in 2019, stating that this was due to him moving outside of Norway and that he wanted an easier name for international fans. While his Manchester City shirts simply use the name Haaland, he has included his mother's surname for international appearances, so his name appears on his Norway jersey as "Braut Haaland". It is common in Norwegian culture for people to include both maternal and paternal names in their surname. In December 2024, Haaland and his girlfriend Isabel Haugseng Johansen had their first child, a son. Ahead of the 2026–27 Premier League season, Haaland debuted a change in appearance, shaving his signature long hair in favour of a close-cropped buzz cut.