Erling Haaland is Norway’s superhuman striker

If you created a player with Erling Haaland’s measurable traits in a video game, your friends would ban you from using him in head-to-head play. Part T-800, part T-1000, the Norwegian striker is relentless considering his hulking 6’5” frame with devastating pace. Add in his uncanny lethality in front of goal and you have a juggernaut that even James Cameron would think is a bit much.

For those unfamiliar with Haaland, you will soon understand the destruction he hath wrought across England and the European continent. The 25-year-old has racked up an absurd 188 goals across 212 senior appearances, most notably at Borussia Dortmund and current club Manchester City.

For Norway, Haaland has already scored an eye-watering 55 goals in 49 games, eclipsing the second all-time Norwegian scorer, Jørgen Juve, by 22 goals.

In his first Premier League season, Haaland broke the single-season goals record which stood for nearly three decades in nine fewer matches than the previous holders. Haaland led City to a treble of Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League trophies that year. He won a second-straight Golden Boot the following season as City lifted the Premier League trophy for the second-straight season and also claimed their first FIFA Club World Cup trophy.

During this current league season, Haaland notched his 100th league goal during his 111 appearance for City on Nov. 26, 2025, shattering the 29-year-old record of 124 matches. As of May 1, Haaland’s 109 league goals already ranks tied for 28th all-time in the Premier League’s history, and the only chance Alan Shearer has of keeping his all-time league record of 260 goals is if the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain come calling for Haaland.

This is Haaland’s first FIFA World Cup and Norway’s first appearance in 28 years.

Outside of friendlies, Norway has only played in the relatively new UEFA Nations League, where Haaland has scored 19 goals across three tournaments—four more than Cristiano Ronaldo in four tournaments.

Neutrals are in for a potentially historic individual run now that Haaland has gained entry to the tournament. He already owns the FIFA U-20 World Cup single-game goal scoring record after netting nine goals in Norway’s 12-0 win over Honduras in 2019.

Just Fontaine’s record of 13 goals for France in the 1958 FIFA World Cup feels insurmountable, yet keeping Haaland off the scoresheet is usually equally insurmountable.

Ranked 37th in the FIFA team rankings, Norway will compete in Group I which probably didn’t feel like much of a reward for its long-awaited return.

France, the current world No. 1, headlines the group as they seek a third-straight FIFA World Cup final appearance. Senegal currently ranks 14th and is in form after a strong run to the finals in the 2025 African Cup of Nations. Iraq is the lowest-ranked team in the group at 57th.

France is likely to win the group, but Haaland can have a massive influence on Norway advancing to the knockouts

Against Iraq, could Haaland break Oleg Salenko’s record of five goals in a single match—coincidentally set during FIFA World Cup 1994 in the United States—giving his country a huge boost in goal differential? Could Norway earn at least a draw against Senegal and/or France? Certainly, in that scenario, you’d have to imagine that Norway would continue on and Haaland could have the golden boot locked up.

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