erling haaland At 6 feet 5 inches tall, he has an intimidating power that dwarfs other soccer players in both height and talent. The Norwegian has been described as a machine, having scored seven goals in four games in the World Cup, which began on Saturday. But to his devoted new fans, he’s both a baby and a princess.
Haaland has become a social media phenomenon, with his own posts and the memes of others turning even football novices into devoted fans.
His domineering appearance and goofy online persona contributed to this boom. Fans have taken note of his flowing blonde mane, color-matched hair ties, and playful posts like a selfie with a Snapchat filter declaring Shrek his “twin.” The contrast between his strength and skill on the field and his softer, looser presence online has also exposed him to “baby girl” treatment online. This term is often used by fans of adorable male celebrities and characters who are perceived as sensitive, caring, and vulnerable.
Haaland represents the widespread acceptance of footballers as pop culture figures, largely due to the way they express themselves off the pitch.
Haaland named ‘beautiful Norwegian princess’
Sarah Wilson, a baseball content creator from New York, is new to following soccer, but over the past month she’s become such a big fan that she took a long trip to buy her new favorite player’s jersey.
“I love Erling Haaland more than life itself,” Wilson, 31, said in the now-viral video. “It’s hard to imagine that a beautiful Norwegian princess could be one of the best strikers in football.”
Haaland has achieved even more intense fame than he already knew. premier league top scorer. Wilson said this moment boils down to a combination of elite skill and quirky personality.
“He’s really, really talented. That’s the first pillar of it all. And you see he’s 25 years old and probably the most prolific Gen Z athlete at the World Cup,” Wilson told The Associated Press, noting that he uses Snapchat and goofy filters in his online photos. A lot of people think, “‘Wow, I love that guy, he’s hilarious. Now he’s my new favorite player,’ and that’s exactly what happened to me,” she added.
Haaland’s expressive reactions on the pitch and his unique look have spawned hundreds of memes. He leans into this viral trend, often poking fun at himself, by posting cheeky selfies on Instagram, uploading long-form vlogs to YouTube, and interacting with fans on public Snapchat stories.
After scoring two goals, knock out brazilhe posted a smug selfie from the locker room with the caption, “So-so.” After an Instagram video with nearly 100 million views compared her appearance to an allium (a needle-like root that grows like hair), Haaland responded in the comments section with a GIF of a dog looking sideways. When Google adds it viking column “One thing to do today…Search my name on Google,” Haaland wrote on X, displaying an animation in search results and a winking emoji.
Haaland said during Thursday’s team press conference that he is enjoying being accepted in the United States.
“I think this is a good thing because I like Americans. I think they can be hilarious. They’re funny. I like the way they do things,” he said. “I think it was really good and honestly, in every way, the World Cup here so far has been great.”
Jeffrey Cushing, a professor at Arizona State University who has studied the use of social media by fans and athletes, said sports are a “cultural force” on a par with politics or religion. He said it was natural that Haaland had “crossed over” to non-football audiences. A song from his youth went viral. A lookalike contest will be held soon. Even the dog wears a blonde wig.
“Before, there was so much gatekeeping going on with athletes. You could only hear from athletes, maybe in interviews or press conferences,” Cushing said. Haaland added that it was proof that players now have more control over shaping their own image.
Fans also seek to ‘shape perceptions’ of their favorite players
Fan access to athletes is what is called parasocial relationships“It’s defined by one-way knowledge,” says Empire State University professor Gail Stevee, who has studied the power relationship between celebrities and fans for decades. While Haaland’s fans feel like they know him on a personal level, he doesn’t know about the roughly 60 million people who follow him on Instagram alone.
Most parasocial relationships are “positive, healthy, and normal,” Stevever said. Only a small percentage of people think to extremes, she says.
Skyla Clarke, a 19-year-old sports management student from Brisbane, Australia, and a lifelong soccer fan, says she has seen the ugly side rebel. Attacks on players after poor performances and even gratuitous hatred towards players’ wives or partners are not uncommon. Haaland himself described the AI-generated player content as “a little scary.” But he said in Norwegian that the attention to the team and its traditions, such as the rowing cheers, was a sign of admiration.
“Usually in a situation like that, it means you’re doing something right and your country is doing something right,” Haaland said.
Even healthy parasocial dynamics may seem unusual to someone new to internet culture. Haaland is not the only player whose personality has exploded on social media, nor is he the only one whose fans have anointed him with a baby girl.
Fan says she feels ‘motherly’ Luka Modric — especially after Croatia defeated In his last international match at the age of 40. Modric is a “special case”. A difficult upbringing during the dissolution of Yugoslavia Clark said it comes down to how fans characterize him online. Some will incorporate his childhood photos into their content, she added, which will create a “deeper appreciation of him as an athlete.” Clark’s TikTok video about Modric’s possible retirement reached hundreds of thousands of viewers within days.
Although Modric himself has a fairly quiet social media presence, especially compared to Haaland, Kathing said he is “trying to shape his own perception” of the person with whom his fans have a parasocial attachment. Some do this, in the case of Modric and Haaland, by superimposing bows and hearts on the image.
before norway Quarter-final match against England On Saturday, fans also took a keen look at Haaland’s friendship with the English player. jude bellinghamhis former teammate. Some have “shipped” the two soccer players, edited footage of them hugging and celebrating, and compared them to the TV sensation. “Heated rivalry” This is the story of two professional hockey opponents who develop a romance on the ice.
“People are saying, ‘He’s a hothead,'” said Nurara Ratwatte, 19, an art student at the University of Melbourne. She is one of the many fans whose video about her newfound love for Haaland went viral.
Ratwatte said he “shouldn’t talk about football” due to a lack of knowledge, but has no intention of looking back after contracting Haaland fever. She describes him as a “big, friendly giant” who, despite not knowing much about soccer, is now focused on rooting for Norway.
“Truly, with all my heart, I love him,” she said.
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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
