Norway’s Erling Haaland wore a Viking helmet and a wide grin on the pitch in Dallas after a historic victory at the 2026 World Cup.
Norway had just beaten Ivory Coast 2-1 to secure their first ever knockout stage victory in World Cup history, with the celebrations featuring the iconic Viking Row led by Martin Odegaard on the drum.
Haaland scored the decisive winner in the 86th minute, a scuffed instep finish from Patrick Berg’s pull-back that Ivorian keeper Yaya Fofana nearly kept out.
Norway became the first European side to reach the last 16 at this tournament, surpassing the efforts of Germany and the Netherlands and matching their best ever World Cup performance from 1998.
Haaland has now scored 60 goals in 53 senior internationals for Norway, averaging a goal every 72 minutes, with five of those coming across three appearances at this World Cup.
Only Lionel Messi has scored more goals than Haaland at the 2026 World Cup in North America, underlining the 25-year-old’s rapid emergence on the biggest stage of all.
Former England captain and BBC pundit Wayne Rooney was full of praise after the victory, saying: “Norway are a very good team, and purely because of that man. Because of his goals, he has proven that he belongs at this World Cup level. He is just devastating. He wasn’t in the game much, but he came up with the winning goal.”
Ex-England international Steph Houghton echoed those sentiments, adding: “I think Norway had the final bit of quality. The big man was always going to score the winner.”
Norway manager Stale Solbakken was equally effusive about his star striker after the match, stating: “To score five goals in the World Cup in three games, for a little country like Norway, I wouldn’t swap him for anyone. He’s the greatest goal scorer in the world of football today.”
One Norway fan in Dallas captured the mood of the nation perfectly, telling BBC Sport: “He means everything to us. He’s so decisive in moments like this. He’s one of the main reasons we qualified in the first place and the reason why we won today. He’s the most important player by far. He’s the greatest player Norway has ever had and probably ever will have.”
Haaland has now scored in each of his last 13 competitive appearances for Norway, accumulating 25 goals across that impressive run of form.
That streak included a brace in Norway’s 4-1 thrashing of Italy that sealed qualification for their first major tournament since Euro 2000, as well as two goals against Iraq and two more against Senegal at this World Cup.
His numbers, when placed against men’s international football’s all-time leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, paint a genuinely staggering picture of what could lie ahead.
Ronaldo has scored 145 goals in 231 games for Portugal at a rate of one goal every 1.59 games, while Haaland’s rate of one goal every 0.88 games means he could theoretically match that tally in just his 128th Norway appearance.
Projecting further, should Norway qualify for every major tournament through to 2040 and Haaland remains available throughout, he could accumulate as many as 260 international goals by the age of 41, the age Ronaldo is now.
Injuries, form, and Norway’s ability to continue qualifying for tournaments will all play a role in how that story ultimately unfolds, but for now the numbers demand serious attention.
What is clear today is that Haaland is no longer simply a prolific scorer against lesser opposition, having proven his ability to deliver when Norway needed him most against Ivory Coast on a grand stage in Dallas.
Norway now face Brazil in the last 16, a blockbuster tie that gives Haaland yet another opportunity to add to a record that is already rewriting what seemed possible in international football.
