<\/p>\n
Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland (9) celebrates after scoring his side\u2019s second goal throughout the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Ivory Coast and Norway in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, June 30, 2026.(AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Erling Haaland stands at 6 feet, 5 inches, an intimidating force who could make fellow soccer players look tiny in stature and talent. Scoring seven goals across 4 World Cup matches entering Saturday, the Norwegian player has been described as a machine. But should you ask some loyal recent fans, he\u2019s also a babygirl and princess.<\/p>\n
Haaland has turn into a social media phenomenon, together with his own posts and memes from others turning even football novices into diehard fans.<\/p>\n
His domineering physical appearance coupled together with his goofy online persona have contributed to the craze. Fans remark on his flowing blond mane, color-coordinated hair ties and playful posts like a Snapchat-filtered selfie by which he proclaimed Shrek his \u201ctwin.\u201d The contrast between his strength and skill on the sector and his softer, looser online presence has also subjected him to the \u201cbabygirl\u201d treatment online. That term is used incessantly by fans of endearing male celebrities or characters who come across as sensitive, caring or vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Haaland is emblematic of a broader embrace of soccer players as popular culture figures, driven largely by how they present themselves off the pitch.<\/p>\n
Sarah Wilson, a baseball content creator in Recent York, is recent to following soccer, but has turn into a sufficiently big fan prior to now month that she launched into a lengthy hunt to purchase the jersey of her recent favorite player.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like Erling Haaland greater than life itself,\u201d Wilson, 31, said in a now viral video. \u201cI cannot fathom being such a fairly Norwegian princess and likewise being the most effective strikers in all of football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haaland is being catapulted right into a fame much more intense than he had already referred to as the Premier League\u2019s top scorer. This moment boils all the way down to the pairing of elite skills with quirky personality, Wilson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHim being really, really talented \u2014 that\u2019s the primary pillar of all of it. And then you definitely discover that he\u2019s 25 years old and he\u2019s probably essentially the most Gen Z athlete within the World Cup,\u201d Wilson told The Associated Press, noting his use of Snapchat and goofy filters in photos online. Many are pondering, \u201c\u2018Wow, I like that guy, he\u2019s hilarious. Now he\u2019s my recent favorite player,\u2019 which is strictly what happened with me,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Haaland\u2019s expressive reactions on the pitch and his unique appearance have spawned a whole bunch of memes. He\u2019s leaned into this virality, posting cheeky selfies on Instagram, uploading long-form vlogs on YouTube and interacting with fans on his public Snapchat stories, often poking fun at himself.<\/p>\n
After scoring two goals to knock out Brazil, he posted a smug selfie from the locker room with the caption, \u201cWell well well.\u201d When an Instagram video with nearly 100 million views likened his appearance to a green onion \u2014 its wiry roots standing in as his hair \u2014 Haaland responded within the comments with a side-eyeing dog GIF. When Google added a Viking row animation to his search results, Haaland wrote on X, \u201cOne thing to do today\u2026 search my name on Google,\u201d with a winking emoji.<\/p>\n
Haaland said in a team news conference on Thursday that he\u2019s enjoyed being embraced within the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel it\u2019s a great thing because I just like the Americans. I feel they’re type of hilarious as well. They’re funny. I like the best way they’re,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel it\u2019s just good and truthfully, on each thing, the World Cup thus far here has been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sports are a \u201ccultural force,\u201d one on par with politics or religion, said Jeffrey Kassing, an Arizona State University professor who has studied fans\u2019 and athletes\u2019 social media use. It\u2019s natural that Haaland has \u201ccrossed over\u201d into non-soccer audiences, he said. A song from his youth has gone viral. A lookalike contest is within the offing. Even dogs are sporting blond wigs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was once a complete lot of gatekeeping that might occur with athletes; you’d only ever hear from athletes perhaps in an interview or in a press conference,\u201d Kassing said. Haaland is evidence of how players have far more control in shaping their image now, he added.<\/p>\n
Fans\u2019 access to athletes contributes to what is known as a parasocial relationship, defined by one-way knowing, said Gayle Stever, a professor at Empire State University who has studied the dynamics between celebrities and fans for a long time. Haaland\u2019s fans feel like they know him on a private level, but he doesn\u2019t know the nearly 60 million individuals who follow him on Instagram alone.<\/p>\n
Nearly all of parasocial relationships are \u201cpositive, healthy and normal,\u201d Stever said. Only a small percentage of individuals take it to the acute, she said.<\/p>\n
Skyla Clarke, a 19-year-old sports management student in Brisbane, Australia \u2014 and lifelong soccer fan \u2014 says she\u2019s seen that uglier side rear its head; attacks on players after poor performances, and even unprovoked hate toward athletes\u2019 wives and partners are usually not unusual. Haaland himself called AI-generated content of players a \u201cbit scary.\u201d But he noted in Norwegian that the eye on the team and its traditions \u2014 the rowing cheer, for instance \u2014 is an indication of praise.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften if it\u2019s like that, it signifies that you\u2019re doing something right, and that your country is doing something right,\u201d Haaland said.<\/p>\n
Even healthy parasocial dynamics can seem unusual to those uninitiated in web culture. Haaland just isn’t the one player whose persona has blown up on social media, neither is he the just one fans have anointed a babygirl.<\/p>\n
Fans have described feeling \u201cmaternal\u201d toward Luka Modri\u0107 \u2014 especially after Croatia\u2019s elimination within the 40-year-old\u2019s final international game. Modri\u0107 is a \u201cspecial case\u201d whose difficult upbringing amid Yugoslavia\u2019s dissolution plays into how fans characterize him online, Clarke said. Some will incorporate childhood photos of him into their content, creating \u201ca deeper appreciation for him as a player,\u201d she added. Clarke\u2019s TikTok video about Modri\u0107\u2019s potential retirement reached a whole bunch of hundreds of viewers in a matter of days.<\/p>\n
Modri\u0107 himself has a somewhat tame social media presence, especially compared with Haaland, but Kassing noted fans \u201ctake it upon themselves to attempt to shape the perception\u201d of those with whom they develop a parasocial attachment. In Modri\u0107 and Haaland\u2019s cases, some do that by overlaying bows and hearts on their images.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Norway\u2019s match against England within the quarterfinals on Saturday, fans have also focused intensely on Haaland\u2019s friendship with English player Jude Bellingham, his former teammate. Some have \u201cshipped\u201d the 2 footballers, making edits of them hugging or celebrating together and drawing comparisons to the tv sensation \u201cHeated Rivalry,\u201d by which two pro hockey opponents develop a romance off the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have been saying \u2018heated Haalandry,\u2019\u201d said Nulara Ratwatt\u00e9, a 19-year-old art student on the University of Melbourne. She\u2019s one among many fans whose videos about their newfound love of Haaland have gone viral.<\/p>\n
Ratwatt\u00e9 said she\u2019s \u201cnot imagined to discuss football\u201d due to her lack of information, but she\u2019s not looking back after catching Haaland fever. She describes him as a \u201cbig, friendly giant,\u201d and despite her lack of soccer savvy, she\u2019s now tuning in to cheer Norway on.<\/p>\n