Erling Haaland wins World Cup meme war

His team may have been knocked out of the World Cup contest, but Norway's Erling Haaland has become the star of World Cup 2026 anyway. Haaland basically dragged his mediocre national team to its first ever quarter-final spot in the contest, scoring seven goals of Norway's 13 goals in five games, but Haaland's online fame has as much to do with his charisma and personality as it does with his skills on the pitch. Over the last few weeks, Haaland's Instagram follower count has grown from around 50 million to nearly 70 million followers. Fans are in love with his Viking style, both on the pitch and off, and the way he spent the World Cup drinking in American culture by doing things like buying his entire team cowboy hats, and leaving the U. S.