Sport3 min(s) read
Published 10:56 09 Jul 2026 GMT
Football fans have noticed something unusual about Erling Haaland's shirt during his World Cup appearance for Norway.
The 25-year-old Norwegian striker has become one of the best-known faces of the tournament, breaking out from football to become a viral star thanks to the many hilarious clips of him on and off the pitch which have been circulating social media.
But fans have noticed that when Haaland plays for the Norwegian national team, he goes by a different name on his shirt.
While he simply uses 'Haaland' for his Manchester City kit, when playing for Norway, the back of the footballer's shirt says 'Braut Haaland'.
Well, it turns out there is a very heartwarming reason for the added 'Braut' on the back of Haaland's shirt.
It is in fact added to honor tradition as in in Norway, it is culturally common for children to have both their mother and father's surnames.
Erling Braut Haaland is the footballer's full legal name, which he chooses to use when representing his home country.
His mother, Gry Marita Braut, was also an athlete, representing Norway as a champion heptathlete in the 1990s, while his father, Alf-Inge Haaland, was also a footballer.
Erling was born in Leeds, UK, when his father was playing for Leeds United, and the family moved back to Bryne, his parents' hometown in Norway, when he was three years old.
By adding Braut to the back of his Norway shirt, Haaland is choosing to honor his mother and her side of the family in line with Norwegian tradition while representing his country.
With sports stars on both his mother and father's side, it's no wonder that Erling chose to follow in their footsteps and become a footballer.
However, his foray into soccer wasn't the only sport the young star dabbled in as a child, as he also played handball, golf, and track and field - and was unsurprisingly pretty good at athletics.
He reportedly achieved a world record in his age category for the standing long jump in 2006 when he was just five years old, with a recorded distance of 1.63 metres (5 ft 4 in).
As well as being a goal-scoring machine during games, off the pitch, Haaland has picked up a dedicated following for his personality as well as his long hair and viking-style looks.
Even those with little interest in the sport have struggled to avoid the many edits of Haaland on social media, showcasing his funniest moments.
Haaland himself has been charting his World Cup journey on YouTube, telling his followers his personal mantra: "One thing in life – don’t take yourself too seriously. No matter what happens, just have a laugh, you know. Don’t be so serious – just enjoy."
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Published 12:31 15 Aug 2024 GMT
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Published 12:20 06 Jul 2026 GMT
Erling Haaland eats beef hearts for breakfast, sleeps 10 hours a night with tape over his mouth, meditates before every match, and has scored in every single competitive game for Norway since October 2024.
Now he is coming for England.
The 25-year-old Manchester City striker has been the standout player at the 2026 World Cup, firing Norway into a quarter-final against the Three Lions after a tournament that has seen him rack up seven goals in four games.
Norway, who had not qualified for a World Cup since 1998, are now one win away from the semi-finals - and the man leading the charge runs on a regime that makes most elite athletes' routines look casual.
This is where it gets interesting.
Haaland consumes around 6,000 calories a day - roughly three times the recommended intake for an adult male.
His diet is built around whole, unprocessed foods with an emphasis on organ meats that most people would not touch.
In his 2022 Viaplay documentary Haaland: The Big Decision, he was filmed carrying a bag of beef liver and heart from a local butcher.
"People say meat is bad for you," he said.
"But which meat? The meat you buy at McDonald's? Or the local cow eating grass right over there?
"I eat the heart and the liver."
British tabloids labelled the diet 'cannibalistic'.
Nutritionists, on the other hand, pointed out that liver is arguably the most nutrient-dense single food that exists - packed with vitamin A, every B vitamin, folate, copper, iron, and high-quality protein.
The rest of his daily intake includes fatty steaks (ribeye and tomahawk are his favourites), eggs, fresh fish, sourdough bread, and what he calls his 'magic potion' - a blend of raw milk, spinach, and kale that he carries to training sessions.
He adds maple syrup and raw unpasteurised milk to his morning coffee, which he considers "a superfood if you do it right".
His girlfriend, Norwegian footballer Isabel Haugseng Johansen, summed it up in a YouTube video: "Oh my god, he eats so much. Everything is about, 'When is the next meal? What should we eat? What shall we make?'"
His one ritual that never changes is the lasagne his father Alf-Inge cooks for him before every home match. Pep Guardiola reportedly joked about hiring Alf-Inge as Manchester City's club chef.
His rare cheat meal? A kebab pizza from his hometown of Bryne.
"I never eat it, only on special occasions," he has said.
"Maybe once a year, if I'm lucky."
The physical transformation has been staggering.
A former coach at RB Salzburg described the teenager who arrived at the club as a 'Cyborgoal' - a football cyborg - after he gained 12 kilograms of muscle in just 15 months.
His training regime prioritises speed, power, and endurance over heavy lifting.
Former Salzburg coach Stanislav Macek revealed that Haaland was doing 300 press-ups and 1,000 sit-ups a day during his time at the club.
He runs hill sprints repeatedly, favours HIIT sessions over traditional gym work, and finishes every session with 10 to 20 minutes of stretching and mobility work.
At 6ft 4in and 94kg, he is built more like a sprinter than a traditional striker. He told AS that the weight gain was "gross muscle mass" rather than bulk, and that his diet was the driving force behind it.
"The better food you put in your body, the better you're going to get things out of it," he said on the Man City podcast. "And performance as well."
This is where it tips from disciplined into obsessive.
Haaland's daily recovery routine includes cryotherapy, red light therapy, hot stone baths, saunas, and personalised physiotherapy sessions.
He wears blue-light-blocking glasses before bed.
He tapes his mouth shut at night to encourage nasal breathing during sleep.
He drinks only filtered water. He makes a point of getting morning sunlight and fresh air, and has said that one of his favourite summer habits is eating breakfast outdoors to regulate his circadian rhythm.
He sleeps around 10 hours a night and has described sleep as the single most important factor in his performance.
"Sleep is the most important thing," he told The Mirror.
"I am obsessed with sleep. If I sleep well, I play well. It is the clearest connection in my life."
He also meditates daily - the habit behind his famous cross-legged goal celebration. He has said it helps him "find an inner peace" that translates directly to how he plays.
Haaland was born in Leeds in 2000 while his father Alf-Inge was playing in the Premier League for Leeds United.
Alf-Inge also played for Nottingham Forest and Manchester City, creating a family legacy his son would later continue at the Etihad.
Despite being born in England, Haaland grew up in Bryne, a small town on Norway's southwestern coast.
He is fiercely proud of his Norwegian identity and has leaned into the Viking imagery more than most.
In March, he spent 1.3 million Norwegian kroner - around $136,000 - to buy a one-of-a-kind 16th-century Viking history book and put it on public display in Bryne.
Before the World Cup, Norway's squad posed as Vikings on the shore in full battle regalia.
The team have since embraced the 'Viking Row' - a fan-created chant in which thousands of supporters sit on the ground in a longboat formation and row to the beat of a Norse horn and drum.
It has become the defining image of the tournament, drawing comparisons with Iceland's 'Thunder Clap' at Euro 2016.
Haaland and captain Martin Ødegaard joined the fans in performing the row after Norway's 3-2 win over Senegal, which confirmed their place in the knockout rounds.
"I saw it online; it's gone completely viral," Haaland told Fox Sports.
"Martin asked me before the game: 'Do you think we should join in?'"
Historically good. Haaland has scored in every competitive game for Norway since October 2024 - a run of 14 matches and 27 goals that has no modern equivalent in international football.
He scored twice in the 4-1 opening win over Iraq and has not stopped since.
"I'm incredibly proud to make my World Cup debut and to win Norway's first World Cup match in 28 years," he said after that first game. "I hope people will party."
England. In the quarter-final. A Manchester City striker coming up against the country of his birth.
It is one of those fixtures that this World Cup seems to have been building towards.
Norway were not supposed to be here, they had not qualified for a major tournament knockout stage in almost three decades.
But Haaland, Ødegaard, and the Viking Row have turned them into one of the stories of the tournament - and England will know exactly what they are walking into.
The 2026 World Cup has had no shortage of talking points, from travel ban controversies to surprise results.
But few stories have captured the imagination quite like Norway's run - and the man at the centre of it who eats cow hearts for fuel and tapes his mouth shut before bed.
England have been warned.
Published 15:58 06 Jul 2018 GMT
Every time the World Cup rolls around and I get caught up in all the goals, drama and festivities, I wonder how I ever managed to survive four years without it. As the world's most popular sport, the past three weeks or so have seen the world gripped with World Cup fever, and whether you're a disappointed German or ecstatic Russian, this has been a tournament for the ages.
I think that people will remember this World Cup for a very long time, and not just because of what happened on the pitch. The internet being the gift that keeps on giving, the World Cup has been the context for the best meme to emerge from this tournament ('Football's Coming Home' being a close second), involving ostensibly one of its best players.
With five titles to their name and a significant chance of bringing home the Jules Rimet trophy for a record sixth time, Brazil are undoubtedly the quintessential World Cup team, and in Neymar, they've got a genuinely world-class player to pin their hopes on. The striker has started slowly this time around, but if Brazil make it all the way, he'll have played a big part.
Unfortunately, his star status has seen opposition players give him some rough treatment in an attempt to knock him off his game. It's a tough part of the game, but Neymar has been mercilessly mocked for his... let's say, theatrical responses to the unwanted attention.
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That's Neymar in the World Cup Quarter Final against Mexico, responding to an errant boot by his opponent as if he'd been shot. It's one way to accentuate any illegal contact from opposition players... but it's also a great way to get mocked by billions all over the world.
Case in point, these rather delightful memes:
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Which eventually led to this absolutely hilarious video, which can be enjoyed over and over again without it ever getting old:
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Now, it's not uncommon for fast food brands to try and get in on global trends, adding their own rather interesting twists. In fact, Burger King have already had to pull an ill-advised post encouraging Russian women to procreate with global football stars, in order to breed a generation of soccer superstars (presumably with crippling Daddy issues).
But KFC South Africa's latest advert involving the World Cup is much better taste, and I'm not just talking about the food. In what was probably an inevitable twist on that last video, KFC took a very familiar sight at this World Cup, and turned it into something decidedly Finger Lickin' Good:
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He just doesn't. Stop. Rolling. We're used to KFC knocking it out of the park with their weird yet wonderful marketing ploys, but even for them, this is pretty awesome. Whatever happens in the showcase final later on this month, I for one won't be forgetting this World Cup in a hurry, and with the help of KFC and Neymar, I doubt you will either.
The father of Lamine Yamal, the 17-year-old who lit up the Euros with Spain, has been stabbed multiple times.
According to Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia and cited by Sky News, Mounir Nasraoui, the father of the young footballer, was attacked in a car park in Mataró, a town close to Barcelona.
He was immediately taken to the hospital where his condition is described as serious but stable.
Authorities have made three arrests in connection with the incident, although no further details have been provided at this time.
Earlier on Wednesday, El Pais reported that Nasraoui reportedly had an argument with a group of people while walking his dog.
Hours later, he was allegedly approached by the same group in a car park and was subsequently stabbed “multiple times.” The motive behind the attack remains unclear.
In a later update, sports website Relevo, also citing official sources, reported that Nasraoui has since been discharged from the hospital.
Local police have yet to issue an official statement regarding the incident and did not respond to requests for comment.
Yamal, a soccer player for Barcelona, was one of the standout players in the Euros this summer, as he and his team won the tournament.
Nasraoui also made headlines when he shared a long-forgotten photo on social media showing Lionel Messi posing with Yamal as a baby, creating one of the tournament’s most viral moments.
The Rocafonda neighborhood, where the stabbing took place, also gained attention during the tournament.
Yamal celebrated his achievements by signaling "304" with his hands, representing the last three digits of Rocafonda’s postal code, highlighting the pride he feels for his diverse, working-class neighborhood, per the Guardian.
This is not the first time Nasraoui has been involved in a confrontation.
Last year, he was fined €546 by a court in Mataró after insulting and throwing eggs at a tent set up by the far-right Vox party to rally votes.
“They had come here to get a rise out of people,” Juan Carlos Serrano Muñoz, owner of the small El Cordobés bar where Yamal and his father often stopped for breakfast before taking the 90-minute train to Barcelona for practice.
“And (Nasraoui) got annoyed, asking ‘what are you doing coming here? You’re just here to provoke,'" he told the Guardian.
Following his triumphs during the summer, Yamal is one of the most talked about soccer players right now, which is no surprise considering he was 16 when the tournament began.
He finished the tournament with one goal and four assists, including one in the final against England that put them 1-0 up.
Published 16:21 18 Jun 2026 GMT
The 'World Cup's hottest fan' has once again found herself at the centre of attention after arriving at Croatia's World Cup clash against England in a daring outfit.
The Croatian influencer has become famous for her eye-catching appearances at major football tournaments.
Ahead of Wednesday's (June 17) match, the 33-year-old posed in the stands wearing a red-and-white checkered top in support of Croatia that left little to the imagination.
Knoll shared pictures of her risque look on Instagram alongside the caption: "CROATIA let's gooo."
The outfit quickly sparked reactions from fans, with many flooding the comments section to praise the model.
One follower called her "Wonder Woman," while another wrote: "You've done it again." A third shared: "You look beautiful," while a fourth added: "She knew she was going to have to top her old fits."
A fifth user said: "I missed you, last World Cup was when I came across your page and have been a fan."
Knoll, who was once crowned Miss Croatia, first gained international attention during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where her Croatia-themed outfits regularly went viral.
Her popularity exploded throughout the tournament, helping her build an audience of nearly three million followers on Instagram.
The model later claimed that some soccer players even proposed marriage after seeing her at matches.
Despite the attention, she insisted she was simply trying to enjoy the atmosphere and support her team, and also shut down suggestions that she was looking for romance while attending games.
"I am not interested in meeting with anybody here. My intention is to make people smile, that is all," she told the Daily Mail.
The influencer also told the outlet that she was surprised by some of the assumptions people made about her because of her outfits.
"I am only having fun with everybody," she said. "I suppose people like me because I am good-looking."
While Knoll says she enjoys interacting with supporters, she admitted that the attention she receives at matches can sometimes create awkward situations.
"The fans I meet everywhere love me," she said. "But when I go to matches now, my friends won't sit with me and move away to other seats because of the cameras."
Even so, she continues to be one of the most recognizable supporters in world soccer.
Published 11:37 14 Jun 2021 GMT
Christian Eriksen has given his first statement after suffering a cardiac arrest on the soccer field during Denmark's Euro 2020 game with Finland.
Soccer fans all over the world sent their best wishes to Eriksen and his teammates after the 29-year-old midfielder collapsed during the 43rd minute of the Denmark vs Finland Euro 2020 game.
Taking place at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, the game was suspended as medics attended to the motionless Inter Milan star.
The soccer star has now given fans an update on his wellbeing, insisting he "feels better" and "won't give up".
Eriksen thanked fans for their support as he vowed to get to the bottom of why he experienced such a sudden and serious health emergency in a short statement released to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport via his agent. His statement read:
"Thank you, I won't give up. I feel better now - but I want to understand what's happened.
"I want to say thank you all for what you did for me."
Eriksen remains in hospital in Copenhagen with his wife and parents at his bedside.
Eriksen's wife rushed onto the field as his emotional teammates formed a barrier around the player as he received medical attention.
As he was carried out of the stadium on a stretcher, Eriksen appeared to be conscious. An update posted to the official UEFA Twitter page revealed that he was in a stable condition in hospital.
Captain Simon Kjaer and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel have visited their teammate in hospital.
Eriksen's agent said: "Now he just has to rest, with him are his wife and parents. He will remain under observation. But in any case, he wants to cheer on his teammates against Belgium."
Meanwhile, Denmark’s team doctor, Morten Boesen, claims Eriksen "was gone" before the midfielder was resuscitated on the soccer field.
He said: "We started the resuscitation and we managed to do it. How close were we to losing him? I don’t know, but we got him back after one defib, so that’s quite fast. How quickly they reacted was decisive I would say.
"The time from when it happens until he receives help is the most important factor. And that was a short period of time. That was decisive. They are now doing a series of tests at the hospital that can maybe give some of the answers he and I are looking for. But he is awake and is answering questions clearly."
"His heart is beating again… the tests that have been done so far look fine. We don’t have an explanation as to why it happened," Boesen added.
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