"It felt missing in 2022 in Qatar and also in the Euros in 2024. So now it finally happened, and it was about time." Erling Haaland has two Premier League titles and a Champions League medal. None of it felt complete without this.
Norway's 4-1 demolition of Italy at the San Siro in November sealed their place at the 2026 World Cup — their first since 1998. Haaland scored twice in two minutes during that final qualifier. Of course he did. He finished the entire UEFA qualifying campaign with 16 goals in eight games, eight more than any other player in the competition. That's not just leading the line. That's dragging a nation onto football's biggest stage by force of will.
A generation waits 28 years for this
Haaland grew up in Bryne never watching Norway at a World Cup. His tournament memories belong to other countries — James Rodríguez lighting up 2014, the chaos of 2022. "I remember the 2010 opening game and in 2014 when James Rodríguez was amazing," he said. "Hopefully, now we can be a part of these amazing moments."
That weight accumulated fast once he joined the national team in 2019. Three failed qualification campaigns in a row — Euro 2020, Qatar 2022, Euro 2024 — and the pressure on his shoulders only grew with each miss. Now, alongside Arsenal's Martin Ødegaard and Atlético's Alexander Sørloth, this generation has finally delivered.
Norway land in Group I alongside France and Senegal. The France game on June 26 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough is already the matchup of the group stage — Haaland versus Mbappé at international level for the first time. Norway's odds to advance will hinge heavily on that fixture. A squad built around three elite club footballers playing at this level for the first time is always a wildcard, and wildcard teams at World Cups have a way of doing damage.
The family symmetry is hard to ignore
His father Alfie played for Norway at the last World Cup held in North America — 1994 in the United States. Now Erling heads back to East Rutherford, this time MetLife Stadium rather than Giants Stadium, to face Senegal. "It's special that he played in the World Cup as well for Norway, especially in the US," Haaland said. The family plan is to get as many people over as possible.
Haaland arrives in the US with 55 international goals in 50 games. He bought a 13th-century Viking manuscript last March for $136,000 and donated it to a library in his hometown. He posed in Viking clothing on a Norwegian fjord for the squad send-off photo. The connection to his country runs deeper than football — and that's exactly why missing three major tournaments felt like it did.
Asked what a successful tournament looks like, he kept it simple: "My main goal was to qualify. Honestly, now I'll take everything as a bonus."
At 24, Haaland has collected every major club honour available to him. The one thing none of those trophies could give him was this — Norway, on the biggest stage, finally.
