"She sent me a message. But she played for the same club I played for, Bryne. So she checked me out, I didn't check her out." Erling Haaland, currently the most talked-about player at the 2026 World Cup, being out-confidenced by his own girlfriend is genuinely the best thing about this story.
While Haaland has been dismantling World Cup defences — scoring in each of Norway's first three group games and helping the country reach the knockout stage for the first time in nearly 28 years — Isabel Haugseng Johansen has been in the stands watching it unfold. She was there for the round of 16 clash against Brazil on July 5, posting pictures with Haaland and family members after the match.
Same town, same team, different timelines
The pair grew up in Bryne, a small town in southwestern Norway, and both played in the local youth football setup — on the same team, no less. They didn't get together then. That came later, when Isabel took matters into her own hands and sent Haaland a message as adults. They've been together since around 2021.
In October 2024, Haaland announced they were expecting their first child with the kind of low-key social media post you'd expect from someone who treats his private life like a press embargo. Their son arrived in December 2024. His name hasn't been made public.
What has been made public is how fatherhood has affected Haaland's game — and it's not what you'd expect. "I've never felt better than now," he told Sky Sports. "With a kid, it makes me even better because I actually disconnect more than ever. I don't think of football at all." For a man who essentially lives inside a football, that's a meaningful shift.
The selfie that broke the internet
Somewhere in between the goals and the nappy changes, Haaland posted a casual locker room selfie that hit 1 million likes within an hour. It sits at around 2.2 million now. The man scores goals at a World Cup and accidentally runs a viral social media account. Norway's anytime scorer odds are going to stay very short for as long as he's in this tournament.
Isabel, for her part, has moved on from playing football to building a following as an influencer — though Haaland made clear the football background matters to him. "She played football. We met and all of that. It's nice because you understand football," he said in an October 2025 YouTube video. Practical romance from a practical man.
