On April 14, 2023, Antonio Cassano claimed that Earling Haaland ”doesn’t know how to play soccer”. Whether this is true or not, the Norwegian wonderkid has been outstanding so far during his short, but full of accomplishments, career.
”The Boy from Bryne” started his career from Bryne FK, a club located in the Stavanger region where his father Alfie was born and raised. Alf-Inge Haaland spent 10 years in the English Premier League with Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Man City after leaving Bryne FK in 1993. He had previously played for the ”Jærens superlag” (Bryne’s nickname) another 14 years joining the club’s academy at the age of 7.
After getting seriously injured by Roy Keane in Manchester City’s derby draw with Manchester United in April 2001, Haaland Sr. never came back and was forced to quit soccer in 2003 at 31. Three years prior to his retirement his son Erling was born in Leeds.
The Haaland family (married to Norwegian heptathlon athlete Gry Marita Braut) moved back to Bryne, a 12,000-strong town 300 miles southwest of Norway’s capital Oslo. At the age of just 5, his Leeds-born son would start kicking the ball at the Bryne FK’s academies – the club’s last spell in the nation’s top-flight Eliteserien was back in 2003. It felt like the normal thing for Alfie Haaland to register young Erling in the youth set-up of the club he had started his own career from.
Alf Ingve Berntsen: the mentor
Berntsen, a talented soccer player saw his career ended by injury at just 17. He was left with no option but to move into coaching like his brother Bjarne Berntsen did after a short career with Viking FK. Alf Ingve Berntsen was Erling Haaland’s first coach, after taking over Bryne Reserves (aka Bryne 2) in 2001. He was a soccer teacher in schools at the time, having already coached various clubs in the fifth level of Norwegian soccer. Berntsen, a UEFA ‘A’ coaching licence holder, soon was in charge of the Bryne FK academies training youngsters born in 1999 and 2000. Erling was amongst them, but not the superstar of the team as we would have thought today. However, Berntsen had already predicted that despite the physicality he was lacking at around the age of 11, when he would be 15, 16 or 17, his talent would explode. He was absolutely right. Erling was promoted to the first team of fourth-tier ”Bryne 2” as a 15 year-old, in 2015.
Erling Haaland’s first senior match
Alfie Berntsen gave Erling his Bryne debut against Start Reserves in the Group 5 of the 2015 Norwegian fourth tier (called as ”3. divisjon”), on 5 October 2015. Haaland started the game with the no.10 on the back of his jersey. Nevertheless, he failed to fire home for ”Bryne 2” as ”Start 2” won with Austin Ikenna’s second-half strike (0-1). 17-year-old Mads Bøgild was Haaland’s partner at the attack of Bryne 2 on that game. Five days later mid-table Bryne 2 travelled to Heistad against bottom-of-the-table Hei, losing again with 2-1. Erling Braut Haaland was the only scorer for his team, his first ever goal on senior level, in Norway’s fourth tier, on 10 October 2015 at the age of just 15 years and 3 months! With the league finishing on 24 October 2015, Haaland featured in two more games scoring another goal and his club finished 7th among 14 teams in Group 5 in a total of 12 Groups. 2 goals in 3 games? Not too bad for a 15-year-old…
2016: his second season
On April 8, 2016, the ”3. divisjon” would start again with ”Bryne 2” in the Group 6 now and with a more ambitious squad. And this became clear straight from the matchday 1. Sander Birhanu Ystanes’ brace followed by experienced Iranian Aram Khalili’s goal in the first half secured a comfortable 3-0 home win for ”Bryne 2” over Vardeneset Ballklubb. However, Erling was not in the XI. He returned on the second game of the season and the 2-1 away defeat to Brodd wearing the no.19 now, but he failed to score. As about the no 10? It was taken by his cousin of the same age, Jonatan Braut Brunes who came on as sub!
New away defeat to Haugesund 2 with 1-0 a week later for Bryne 2 who had quite a few talented youngsters including Croatian goalkeeper Ante Knezevic and left back Erik Hadland. On May 2, 2016, Bryne 2 suffered their third straight loss to league leaders Staal Jørpeland by 4-1 at home. It was also Haaland’s third game without getting a goal. So it was about time for things to change…
Erling Haaland scored twice for Bryne 2 in the 7-0 demolishing of strugglers Odda, while his cousin Jonatan added 2 more. It was the first away victory for Bryne 2 in an exciting season.
Another 4-0 win over Frøyland followed a week later with Jonatan Braut scoring two goals and his cousin Erling absent as he was training with Bryne FK under Alf Ingve Berntsen who had just replaced Gaute Larsen. Bryne FK’s interim manager And Berntsen would give Erling another debut. His first game with Bryne FK was a second-tier ”1. divisjon” match against Ranheim on 12 May, 2016, coming on as a sub in the second half and playing as a winger. He was just 15 years and 10 months! Even when Ole Hjelmhaug replaced Berntsen as manager during the season the former kept calling the 15-year-old prodigy to the Bryne FK squad. Overall, sixteen games played -without a goal- by Haaland in Norway’s second highest division in 2016. His cousin Jonathan also played once for Bryne FK in 2016 with Iranian Aram Khalili being the team’s main forward.
While Erling was not a regular for Bryne FK, his status was way different at the Bryne Reserves in the fourth tier as the talented striker was on fire! Bryne 2 kept up winning, tracing leaders Staal Jørpeland and towards the end of the 2016 season they were on track for promotion to Norway’s third tier. The season was concluded on October 24, 2016 and Erling Haaland had become the talk of the town with 18 goals in 14 games.
The first hat–trick
Out of his 18 league goals for Bryne 2 in 2016, four of them were scored in a single match, his first career hat-trick or more precisely…”haul”! On September 9, 2016, Vard Haugesund 2 hosted Bryne 2 at the Gymnasbane Ground. Erling Braul Haaland contributed four to his team’s five goals in their away 5-3 victory. His age? Just 16 and about 2 months. His hat-trick against Vard Haugesund 2 was one of the best recorded in history in terms of age and it stands as an all-time record in Norwegian soccer.
But where does it stand among other records? Some of milestone trebles scored by youngsters in club soccer throughout history are listed as below.
| Player | Date | Tier | Age | Score | Goals | Match | Country |
| Alcántara | 02.25.1912 | Reg. | 15 years, 140 days | 9-0 | 3 | Barcelona – Catalá SC | Spain |
| Piola | 02.08.1931 | 1 | 17 years, 132 days | 6-1 | 3 | Pro Vercelli – Napoli | Italy |
| Chaylor | 01.29.1955 | 3 | 17 years, 72 days | 3-1 | 3 | Oldham – Mansfield Town | England |
| Pelé | 06.09.1957 | Reg. | 16 years, 197 days | 7-2 | 4 | Santos – Fabril de Lavdas | Brazil |
| Pelé | 07.25.1957 | Reg. | 16 years, 243 days | 7-2 | 3 | Santos – Ponte Preta | Brazil |
| Mitchell | 12.28.1963 | 1 | 17 years, 229 days | 6-2 | 3 | Dundee Utd – St Mirren | Scotland |
| Radford | 01.02.1965 | 1 | 17 years, 305 days | 4-2 | 3 | Arsenal – Wolves | England |
| Francis | 02.20.1971 | 2 | 16 years, 306 days | 4-0 | 4 | Birmingham City – Bolton | England |
| Ioannou | 03.27.1977 | 1 | 17 years, 26 days | 3-5 | 3 | Digenis – Apollon Limassol | Cyprus |
| Maradona | 05.22.1977 | Reg. | 17 years, 172 days | 5-2 | 3 | Argentinos Jrs – Atlanta | Argentina |
| Shearer | 04.09.1988 | 1 | 17 years, 240 days | 4-2 | 3 | Southampton – Arsenal | England |
| Ronaldo | 11.07.1993 | 1 | 17 years, 49 days | 6-0 | 5 | Cruzeiro – Bahia | Brazil |
| Pontikas | 09.28.1996 | 5 | 14 years, 198 days | 4-3 | 3 | Ampelokipoi – Haravgi | Greece |
| Bakkali | 08.07.2013 | 1 | 17 years, 196 days | 5-0 | 3 | PSV – NEC Nijmegen | Holland |
| Haaland | 09.19.2016 | 4 | 16 years, 64 days | 3-5 | 4 | Vard Haugesund 2 – Bryne 2 | Norway |
| Siri | 03.19.2021 | 2 | 16 years, 336 1days | 5-1 | 3 | Danubio – Boston River | Uruguay |
*Reg. explained: Catalan regional league for Alcántara, State league and Inter-state friendly for Pelé, Buenos Aires regional league for Maradona.
Three international hat-trick performances worth mentioning are: Ronaldo’s on 09.13.1994 at 17 years and 360 days (PSV Eindhoven – Bayer Leverkusen 5-4, UEFA Cup, Round 1), Pelé’s on 06.24.1958 at 17 years and 246 days (Brazil – France 5-2, World Cup, semifinal) and Lee Wai Tong’s on 05.24.1923 at 17 years and 216 days (China – Japan 5-1, Far Eastern Games, final match).
Molde, Red Bull Sazburg, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City to follow
Despite the fact that he did not succeed to score a single goal for Bryne FK in Norway’s second tier in 2016, Molde signed him on 1 February 2017, five months before he turned 17. He made his debut on 26 April 2017 in a Norwegian Cup match against Volda TI, scoring his first top-flight in a 3–2 win. He also played 4 times for Molde Reserves in the 2017 season scoring twice. By 19 August 2018 and his transfer to Austrian powerhouse Red Bull Salzburg, Haaland had scored 20 goals in 50 matches for Molde.
After one and a half season in Austria and 29 goals in 27 games which included Champions League soccer Haaland became the subject of high interest between some top European clubs: Manchester United, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund. The latter was the most decisive in the race, signing him on December 29, 2019, for a fee reported to be in the region of €20 million. His stats during his 2019-2022 stint at Dortmund? More than impressive: 86 goals in 89 games!
His transfer to a bigger European club was just inevitable, a matter of time. On May 10, 2022, Dortmund announced that Erling would be leaving at the end of the season to sign for Premier League back-to-back champions Manchester City: his father’s last club in England. Pep Guardiola’s City had activated his €60 million release clause.That was it. 2022-23 Premier League Player of the Season, Premier League Golden Boot, European Golden Shoe, UEFA Champions League top scorer and the Champions League trophy in a dramatic final against Inter Milan. Overall, he led City to a stunning Treble triumph with a staggering total of 52 goals and nine assists in 53 appearances.
Erling Haaland surely deserved the 2023 Best FIFA Men’s Player award. However, he surprisingly missed out to Inter Miami’s superstar Lionel Messi on equal points, leaving his dad. Alfie, clenching his jaw at the London ceremony. They both finished dead-level on 48 points. FIFA separated Haaland and Messi by solely comparing how many international captains voted for them as the best player. A whopping 107 of the 207 national teams captains chose Messi, compared to 64 for Haaland.
Was it fair? Lionel Messi’s heroics with Inter Miami during their 2023 Leagues Cup victorious campaign proved pretty convincing for those 107 captains. As about Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi’s vote? He opted for Erling Haaland over his former teammate Kylian Mbappe…
