Haaland, Norway are rowing home, but this World Cup cemented them as superstars

MIAMI — They came, they saw, they almost conquered.

But in the end, even Erling Haaland couldn’t take Norway all the way to World Cup glory. Thanks to England midfielder Jude Bellingham and an aerial camera, Norway are rowing home.

If Cape Verde stole the hearts of the global audience at this World Cup with their incredible run to the round of 32 before taking Argentina all the way to extra time before a 3-2 defeat, Norway and Haaland left the biggest imprint on the tournament and the United States, where Stale Solbakken’s team played all six of their games.

It could have been even more but for Bellingham’s two goals in Norway’s 2-1 quarterfinal defeat in Miami, when the controversy over whether England’s first goal was aided by the ball striking an aerial camera will become one of the ongoing storylines of the tournament.

But when the dust settles on the 2026 men’s World Cup, two images will be indelibly linked to the tournament: Haaland celebrating after another goal, and the team’s fans (and players) performing their now-famous “Viking Row” from the steps of Times Square to the pitch at MetLife Stadium.

Norway were a star turn, but Haaland was their undoubted superstar. “He’s the greatest goal scorer in the world,” Solbakken said after his late goal sealed a 2-1 round-of-32 win against Ivory Coast. “I wouldn’t swap him for anybody.”

Yet while Argentina’s Lionel Messi, France’s Kylian Mbappé and the England duo of Bellingham and Harry Kane all occupy the same status within their national teams, they also possess a cold detachment: a sense that they know they are special and that they have earned a certain VIP status.

Haaland is special. He also has as much VIP credibility as all of the above, but what has elevated the Manchester City forward to a different level of celebrity status as the quartet above is his personality, sense of humor, and the inescapable feeling that he sees himself as just one of the guys within Solbakken’s team.

The 25-year-old has all the star quality without the A-list ego, and that blend has, according to a source close to the player, enabled him to “completely explode the internet” during his time at the World Cup and elevate him to a “new level of fame.”

Haaland’s goals are his most powerful currency, and with seven at this tournament, he has equaled Poland’s Grzegorz Lato’s record for the most prolific World Cup debut. They have been big goals, too: among them a late winner in the round of 32 against Ivory Coast, both goals in a 2-1 round-of-16 victory against Brazil. But while he has delivered on the pitch, it is off the pitch that he has really won the World Cup.

Haaland’s YouTube channel, which he launched in October, passed the 3 million subscriber mark during Norway’s quarterfinal defeat, but the real testament to how his fame has grown during the World Cup is that his channel past the 2 million subscriber number only 12 days ago.

In the space of two weeks, his subscriber audience grew by 50%, and sources have told ESPN that a behind-the-scenes documentary that Haaland has done in the U.S. has also rocketed in terms of viewers. The first episode registered 2.3 million viewers in total, but the most recent is at 8 million and growing just three days after being released.

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Pain in Oslo as Norway exit the World Cup after losing to England

Haaland has become the subject of memes across the world, largely in Brazil and Mexico, and his departure from the World Cup takes away one of its biggest personalities — maybe even its biggest.

But Norway as a collective have contributed to that, from the moment the Norwegian Football Federation published an image of the squad dressed in Viking battle gear in front of a wooden longship in a fjord to mark their departure for the tournament. The Vikings were coming, and they were going to make their mark, but they did so in ways beyond expectation.

Fans from other competing nations have adopted the Viking Row, and when the Norway team landed in Dallas ahead of the Ivory Coast game, police at Dallas Fort Worth airport welcomed them by doing their own version on the tarmac.

“I think that the whole nation is rowing together, and with that, I mean that we are having a great party here and in Oslo and in all the ‌other big ⁠and small cities all the way through Norway,” Solbakken said after the win against Brazil. “The rowing is in a way a symbol of that, and that we are all together. So I think it’s great days, it’s a great summer to be a fan. I think it’s better to be a fan than a coach.”

Norway’s ride is over now, and Haaland and his teammates will head back to Oslo, where they will surely be greeted by the biggest collective rowing that we have seen.

But they have established themselves on the world stage during this World Cup, and Haaland has cemented his status as a global star. Together, they have made the World Cup their own.