Erling Haaland made sure the celebrations in Oslo carried on well into the night on Thursday — not only with another trademark brace that sealed Norway’s place at the 2026 World Cup, but also by personally collecting the team’s late-night cheeseburger order outside the Ullevaal Stadium.
For Norway, the wait has been painfully long. Twenty-six years since their last appearance at a major tournament and 28 years since they graced a World Cup, the Scandinavian nation are finally back. And there is little doubt that Haaland — the generational goalscorer who has reshaped records for both club and country — is the key reason they made it.
This is arguably Norway’s most talented attacking generation, headlined by the Premier League duo of Haaland and Martin Ødegaard. With Ødegaard sidelined for the November fixtures, the captain’s armband passed to Haaland, who embraced the role with typical authority: two goals against Estonia, two more against Italy, and a perfect qualifying record sealed with consecutive 4–1 victories.
Erling Haaland finished qualifying with 16 goals in eight matches — double the tally of any other European player — and Norway topped a group that included Italy, even without the expanded 48-team World Cup helping them along.
Former Norway striker and current pundit Jan Aage Fjørtoft, who played alongside Haaland’s father, Alf-Inge, sensed something special building within the national team long before qualification was secured. After filming a documentary with Haaland and Ødegaard in 2022, he felt the shift.
“What struck me,” Fjørtoft told the Manchester Evening News, “was how much these boys love coming to camp. You can win the Premier League or the Champions League at your club, but playing for your country is different. It stays with you when your career is over.”
Erling Haaland embodies that idea. His record — 55 goals in 48 games — is extraordinary, but it’s his leadership that has impressed Fjørtoft most. Whether taking teammates on a lap of honour or dragging the squad behind a goal to salute the fans, Haaland has embraced his vice-captaincy “like a Viking leading a ship into battle”, as Fjørtoft joked.
There is also a deeper family significance. Alf-Inge played for Norway at the 1994 World Cup, and Fjørtoft believes matching his father’s achievement will mean as much as any club success. “It completes the picture for him,” he said. “It settles those dinner-table discussions.”
Haaland has long described qualifying Norway for a major tournament as the “main goal” of his international career. Now, at 26, he gets to experience the World Cup he grew up watching. And if Norway’s realistic ambitions next summer will be modest, the same cannot be said for Haaland.
“Erling Haaland can be the top scorer at the World Cup,” Fjørtoft insisted. “He can score three in the first game. That’s what he does — that’s his business.”
Haaland has made a habit of turning the impossible into routine. Getting Norway back to the World Cup might only be the beginning.
