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Standing at 6 feet, 5 inches, Erling Haaland is an intimidating force that can make fellow soccer players look tiny in stature and talent. The Norwegian player, who scored seven goals across four World Cup games entering Saturday, has been described as a machine. But if you ask some loyal new fans, he’s also a baby girl and princess.
Haaland has become a social media phenomenon, with his own posts and memes from others turning even football newbies into crazy fans.
His domineering physical appearance combined with his goofy online persona has contributed to the craze. Fans note his flowing blonde mane, color-coordinated headbands and playful posts like a Snapchat-filtered selfie where he proclaimed Shrek as his “twin.” The contrast between his strength and prowess on the court and his softer, looser online presence has also subjected him to the “babygirl” treatment online. That term is often used by fans of endearing male celebrities or characters who come across as sensitive, caring, or vulnerable.
Haaland is emblematic of a wider embrace of footballers as pop culture figures, largely driven by how they present themselves off the pitch.
Haaland as a ‘beautiful Norwegian princess’
Sarah Wilson, a baseball content creator in New York, is new to football, but has become a big enough fan in the past month that she embarked on an extended hunt to buy her new favorite player’s jersey.
“I love Erling Haaland more than life itself,” Wilson, 31, said in a now-viral video. “I can’t believe being such a beautiful Norwegian princess and also being one of the best strikers in all of football.”
Haaland is catapulted to a fame even more intense than he had already known as the Premier League’s top scorer. This moment boils down to the pairing of elite skills with quirky personality, Wilson said.
“He’s really, really talented — that’s the first pillar of it all. And then you find out he’s 25 years old and he’s probably the most Gen Z athlete in the World Cup,” Wilson told The Associated Press, noting his use of Snapchat and silly filters on photos online. A lot of people think, ‘Wow, I love that guy, he’s funny. Now he’s my new favorite player,’ which is exactly what happened to me,” she added.
Haaland’s expressive reactions on the pitch and his unique appearance have spawned hundreds of memes. He has leaned into this virality, posting cheeky selfies on Instagram, uploading lengthy vlogs on YouTube and interacting with fans on his public Snapchat stories, often poking fun at himself.
After scoring two goals to knock Brazil out, he posted a smug selfie from the dressing room with the caption, “Oh well.” When an Instagram video with nearly 100 million views compared his appearance to a green onion – its wiry roots sticking out of his hair – Haaland responded in the comments with a side-eyed dog GIF. When Google added a Viking row animation to its search results, Haaland wrote on X: “One thing to do today… search my name on Google,” with a winking emoji.
Haaland said at a press conference on Thursday that he has enjoyed being embraced in the United States
“I think it’s a good thing because I like the Americans. I also think they’re kind of funny. They’re funny. I like the way they are,” he said. “I think it’s just good, and honestly, on every single thing, the World Cup so far has been great.”
Sports are a “cultural force,” one on par with politics or religion, said Jeffrey Kassing, an Arizona State University professor who has studied fans’ and athletes’ use of social media. It’s natural that Haaland has “crossed over” to non-football audiences, he said. A song from his youth has gone viral. A lookalike contest is underway. Even dogs have blonde wigs.
“There used to be a whole lot of gatekeeping that would happen with athletes; you would only ever hear from athletes, maybe in an interview or in a press conference,” Kassing said. Haaland is proof of how players have much more control over shaping their image now, he added.
Fans also try to ‘shape the perception’ of their favorite players
Fans’ access to athletes contributes to what’s called a parasocial relationship, defined by one-way knowledge, said Gayle Stever, a professor at Empire State University who has studied the dynamic between celebrities and fans for decades. Haaland’s fans feel they know him on a personal level, but he doesn’t know the nearly 60 million people who follow him on Instagram alone.
The majority of parasocial relationships are “positive, healthy and normal,” Stever said. Only a small percentage of people take it to the extreme, she said.
Skyla Clarke, a 19-year-old sports management student in Brisbane, Australia – and lifelong soccer fan – says she has seen the ugly side behind her head; attacks on players after poor performances, and even unprovoked hatred of athletes’ wives and partners are not uncommon. Haaland himself called AI-generated player content a “little scary.” But he noted in Norwegian that the attention to the team and its traditions – e.g. the ro cheer – is a sign of praise.
“Usually if it’s like that, it means you’re doing something right and your country is doing something right,” Haaland said.
Even healthy parasocial dynamics can seem unusual to the uninitiated in Internet culture. Haaland isn’t the only player whose persona has been blown up on social media, nor is he the only one fans have anointed a baby girl.
Fans have described feeling “motherly” towards Luka Modric – especially after Croatia’s elimination in the 40-year-old’s final international. Modrić is a “special case” whose difficult upbringing amid the breakup of Yugoslavia plays into how fans characterize him online, Clarke said. Some will incorporate childhood photos of him into their content, creating “a deeper appreciation of him as a player,” she added. Clarke’s TikTok video about Modrić’s potential retirement reached hundreds of thousands of viewers in a matter of days.
Modrić himself has a fairly tame social media presence, especially compared to Haaland, but Kassing noted that fans “take it upon themselves to try to shape the perception” of those with whom they develop a parasocial attachment. In the case of Modrić and Haaland, some do this by superimposing bows and hearts on their photos.
Ahead of Norway’s match against England in the quarter-finals on Saturday, fans have also focused intensely on Haaland’s friendship with England player Jude Bellingham, his former team-mate. Some have “shipped” the two football players, making edits of them hugging or celebrating together and drawing comparisons to the TV sensation “Heated Rivalry,” in which two professional hockey opponents develop an off-ice romance.
Norway’s World Cup stories
“People have been saying ‘heated Haalandry’,” said Nulara Ratwatté, a 19-year-old art student at the University of Melbourne. She is one of many fans whose videos of their newfound love for Haaland have gone viral.
Ratwatté said she “shouldn’t talk about football” because of her lack of knowledge, but she is not looking back after catching Haaland fever. She describes him as a “big, friendly giant” and despite her lack of football knowledge, she now tunes in to cheer on Norway.
“Truly, from the bottom of my heart,” she said, “I love him.”
Report from the Associated Press.
