Erling Haaland. If his exploits in the Premier League and Bundesliga over the past few seasons hadn’t already made him a household name, they certainly have now after the 6-foot-5-inch Norway striker’s late brace knocked five-time champions Brazil out of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16. Norway are appearing in the World Cup for just the fourth time and their first since 1998, having failed to qualify for each of the previous six editions.
Haaland, who turns 26 on July 21, was not even born then. Today, he is Norway’s most famous footballer.
Now, here’s Indian football’s connection with Haaland.
Ten years ago, Indian football was brimming with expectations. The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was just a year away, and India were set to host it. It was the first time an Indian football team would play in a FIFA World Cup at any level. Several exposure tours were planned against teams such as Norway U-17 (which featured Erling Haaland) and Brazil U-17 (which featured Vinicius Junior), both of whom faced off on Monday night.
The match report (June 29, 2016) of the India vs Norway game is still available on the AIFF (All India Football Federation) website. “After the Indian Colts were reduced to 10 men in the 54th minute when Sanjeev earned a second yellow card for a rash tackle, Norway took the lead in the 57th minute through Erling Braut Haaland and doubled their lead in the 80th minute when Erik Botheim’s strike found the net,” it stated. “After a goalless first half, Sanjeev was red-carded in the 54th minute and India were reduced to 10 men. The Indian Colts failed to erase their deficit after conceding goals in the 57th and 80th minutes as the full-time scoreline read 2-0 in Norway’s favour.”
Haaland was already a rising star by then. Suresh Wangjam was a member of that Indian squad. In 2022, a photo of him tackling Haaland went viral. “By the way, I won that ball. Just saying,” he wrote in response to that photo.
“We knew it was not going to be an easy game. We had a plan to face them. We knew their style of play and that they had one key player [Haaland]. It was a bit easier for us to know who was going to mark the key player so that we could put him under pressure and stop them from playing the ball forward,” Suresh later told The Bridge.
Many members of that Indian team that played in the U-17 World Cup went on to represent the senior Indian national team as well as teams in the Indian Super League. Haaland, on the other hand, rose to become one of the greatest players of the current generation.
As Haaland’s Norway gear up for the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals, Indian football has little to cheer about. Among FIFA’s 211 member associations, India are ranked 138th. The difference couldn’t be starker.