Norwegian striker Erling Haaland has achieved a major milestone by becoming the most viral player of the World Cup competition, according to The Guardian.
His growing fanbase stems heavily from his off-pitch content production rather than just his goalscoring record, even as he competes for the Golden Boot trophy.
The Manchester City striker previously held strong support in Norway and Manchester, alongside affection from Leeds United fans due to his birth and upbringing in Yorkshire.
As Norway advanced to the quarter-finals, global interest spiked significantly, pushing "Haaland" into the UK top 10 platform searches on TikTok during the first week of July.
TikTok and Social Media Growth
TikTok searches for the player grew by over 300% week on week, while searches for "Haaland best moments" surged by 1,300% during the same timeframe.
The platform recorded over 14,000 combined posts for #Haaland and #ErlingHaaland, marking an approximate 500% monthly increase and bringing his total posts to 1.4 million.
Despite this massive growth, he still trails behind football veterans Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who maintain 25 million and 22.3 million posts respectively.
Haaland previously generated viral moments by dressing as Santa Claus to distribute gifts in Manchester and posting humorous updates about "raw dogging" a flight without entertainment.
His digital footprint expanded during the World Cup across Instagram and TikTok, alongside his personal Snapchat stories where he commands 4.7 million subscribers.
The athlete frequently interacts with these viral trends online, including commenting on a meme comparing his facial features to a green onion.
Other popular interactions include a mocked-up photo alongside Shrek captioned "Selfie with my twin," a tourist disguise in New York, and wearing a cowboy hat in Texas.
Google also implemented a special animation featuring rowers in Viking helmets that drifts across the screen whenever users search for the striker's name.
Fan and Supporter Reactions
Videos highlighting his sportsmanship went viral, including a clip of him carefully folding and handing a jersey to a kit man while other players dropped theirs.
Internet users have also celebrated his close bond with England midfielder and former Borussia Dortmund teammate Jude Bellingham ahead of the Norway versus England match.
This online popularity helped propel Bellingham to 1.3 million TikTok posts, vastly outnumbering England captain Harry Kane who stands at 277,600 posts.
An 18-year-old TikTok creator from the Netherlands shared a video featuring the two players that accumulated more than 100,000 shares despite her lack of prior football knowledge.
"I'm honestly not that into football except for World Cups and Uefa Euros, so mostly just when my own country plays, because the whole country watches, so you kinda have to stay updated," she said.
"I always get really invested in the World Cup every four years, but usually mostly just for my own country," she added.
"This year, it kinda took over my FYP [For You page], especially Haaland and his funny moments and his Snap stories."
"I just like Erling Haaland's vibe," she said.
"I think his Snapchat posts are funny, and I like the bromance between Haaland and Bellingham, so that its mostly what has drawn me to making that video."
Russian model Anastasia Kostromitina also achieved viral status after mimicking Haaland's poses in a video, drawing comparisons due to her long blond hair and blue eyes.
"At first, when people compared me to him I was a little bit confused," said Kostromitina.
"But then I realised that being compared to such an amazing athlete is not offensive at all."
"He seems really humble and, of course, he's a great athlete," she added.
Manchester City supporters expressed that this global recognition mirrors what local fans have experienced for three seasons at the club level.
"He is a great asset for our club," Dante Friend from the 1894 fan group said.
"He's very active on social media, he follows the fan accounts, he's in touch with some of the main fans behind the scenes, so we really feel he's one of us."
Kevin Parker, the general secretary of the Manchester City Official Supporters Club, emphasized that fans view him differently due to his unique personality traits.
"He's an unbelievable footballer, right up there with the best strikers, goal scorers in the world, but I think City fans for quite some time have seen Erling as just a different sort of footballer," said Kevin Parker.
"I don't mean in terms of his ability, I mean in terms of his personality."
"He just seems a genuinely likeable sort of guy," he added.
"And I think that now, because of how big the World Cup stage is, other people around the world are getting the benefit of seeing what we've seen for three seasons."
"From my point of view, as a City fan, I think it's absolutely fantastic," he said. "I think he gives football such a positive vibe."
"Even in this World Cup, there have been some negative vibes, particularly about Fifa and some of the decisions they've made, but everything that Erling does, it's just positive, positive."
Howard Cohen, the chair of the Manchester City Disabled Supporters Association, noted that the striker quickly moved past initial media perceptions of being reserved.
"When he first came [to Manchester City], there was a public image projected, certainly in some of the media, of him being quite quiet and reserved," Cohen said.
"He's really come out of his shell very quickly."
"He was clearly never that sort of quiet, reserved figure in reality, and he doesn't take himself too seriously."
"I think that's important for anybody in public life, but particularly for footballers," he added.
"And that, I think, is what people love most with him, off the field at least, that he can have a laugh with everybody and enjoy himself."
"He's certainly picking up plenty of support around the word, and providing entertainment for people," Cohen said. "And that's what football should be about, after all."
