Over 100,000 hate messages and death threats landed on Alexander Sørloth and his partner Lena Selnes after Norway lost 2-1 to England in the quarterfinals. That's not a crowd venting frustration. That's a mob.
The moment that triggered it came before halftime. Norway led 1-0. Sørloth had a 2-on-1 counterattack, Erling Haaland in support, and he went alone. John Stones made the block. England equalized in stoppage time. Extra time brought a second. Norway were out, their World Cup run finished in the cruelest way possible — and some fans decided that entitled them to threaten a man's life.
Campaz feared going home
Sørloth isn't alone in this. Colombia's Jáminton Campaz missed a decisive chance against Switzerland in the round of 16. Colombia lost on penalties. The threats that followed were serious enough that Campaz said publicly he was afraid to return home — not just for himself, but for his family. Colombia's football federation stepped in to condemn the abuse, but the damage was already done.
One missed shot. One blocked run. These are the moments that define knockout football — and they're also, apparently, enough justification for some people to threaten athletes and their families with violence.
The ugliness wasn't limited to players. Freddy, an anonymous social media personality who built a following around his World Cup journey, deactivated his account after weeks of coordinated harassment. A Reddit group dedicated itself to uncovering his real identity. "For some people, it's unfortunately unfathomable that a good story can exist without some kind of hidden agenda behind it," he wrote on X after returning. "After a while it became exhausting."
He's a fan who never kicked a ball in this tournament. They came for him anyway.
The pattern doesn't change
Every major tournament ends with some version of this story. A miss, a red card, a penalty shootout — and then the same wave of threats flooding into players' inboxes. Federations release statements. Players delete their apps. A news cycle passes. Then it happens again four years later.
What's notable here is the scale. 100,000 messages to Sørloth. A player so scared he won't go home. An anonymous fan chased off the internet for sharing his experience at a World Cup. This isn't the fringe anymore.
Colombia's federation said football should never become an excuse for violence and hate. True. But after watching this repeat tournament after tournament, the statement rings hollow without anything behind it that actually changes the pattern.
