RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The 2026 FIFA men's World Cup concluded with Spain hoisting the trophy two weeks ago, but the Year of Erling Haaland rolls on.
On Friday, July 31, Haaland posted a photo showing him and a smiling Michael Jordan across his social media feeds with the caption, "No caption needed."
Where was this photo taken? How did they meet? Who approached whom? Without any inside information, the simplest explanation is that everyone and everything is within reach when you've become as famous and successful as Haaland.
Haaland, 26, was already a beloved, famous soccer star for Manchester City — winning three of the past four English Premier League Golden Boots — but he captured the zeitgeist at his debut World Cup this summer.
Haaland and Martin Ødegaard led Norway to the quarterfinals — an all-time best finish at the men's World Cup — in Norway's first men's World Cup appearance since 1998. Haaland scored seven goals across five matches before England outlasted Norway in extra time in the quarterfinal on July 11.
For as many goals as Haaland scored, he generated far more memes, and he reacted to the best of them in a YouTube video that has racked up over 10.3 million views.
"Best feeling was 2-0 goal against Brazil, [that] is the best feeling," Haaland said in the video. "But I didn't quite understand it because it was just, like, a perfect moment." He then asked, "You think we're ever gonna peak like that again?" It seems he establishes a new peak every day.
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