Erling Haaland scored eight goals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, sent Norway to their first-ever quarter-final, and somehow still found time to dress as a cowboy in Texas. The man is operating on a different level — on and off the pitch.
The viral clips of Haaland embracing American culture across the tournament have reignited a question that won't go away: could he end up in MLS one day?
What He Actually Said
Back in 2023, when he was 23 and had just arrived at Manchester City, the answer was a flat no — but for understandable reasons. "I'm 23, so people are going over to the MLS and playing football there. I never thought of it because I'm young. I'm playing in Man City, you know? I basically just came here."
That's not a rejection of MLS as a concept. That's a man telling you to ask him again in ten years. Now 25 and having spent weeks genuinely falling for American culture — Southern accents, New York delis, taxidermied raccoons — the conversation feels less hypothetical than it did.
He's not going anywhere near MLS right now, and City's investment in him makes that obvious. But his marketability in the States has just multiplied. The Wild Bill's Western Store in Dallas will tell you that much — over 2,000 online orders flooded in after Haaland landed back in Norway clutching a taxidermied raccoon holding a whiskey bottle. Thirty percent of those orders were international. The store didn't even offer international shipping before he walked in.
Eight Goals and a Culture Tour
To be clear about the football: braces against Iraq and Senegal in the group stage, a late winner against Cote d'Ivoire in the Round of 32, and another double to eliminate Brazil in the Round of 16. Norway beat Brazil. Haaland scored twice. That happened.
His World Cup odds for individual awards next cycle will open very short. Any futures market on MLS's biggest-ever signing in the 2030s is probably worth keeping an eye on too.
For now, Haaland is on holiday. City's pre-season starts next month. The raccoon is presumably on the mantelpiece.
