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Haaland is the World Cup's Most Viral Player
🇬🇷 Greece /Sports

Haaland is the World Cup's Most Viral Player

From Kathimerini · () Greek

Translated from Greek, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • Erling Haaland is the most viral player of the World Cup, with significant online engagement.
  • Despite his popularity, his social media presence is still behind that of Messi and Ronaldo.
  • Haaland has embraced his public profile, sharing humorous and engaging content online.

Erling Haaland has become the most viral player of the World Cup, captivating fans not just with his seven goals for Norway, but also with his off-field persona. While competing for the Golden Boot against stars like Messi and Mbappé, Haaland has secured a different kind of award: the most talked-about player online. His popularity surged during the tournament, with searches for "Haaland" spiking on TikTok in the UK. Hashtags like #Haaland and #ErlingHaaland saw a nearly 500% increase in posts compared to the previous month. However, despite his 1.4 million posts, he still trails Lionel Messi (25 million) and Cristiano Ronaldo (22.3 million) in overall social media mentions. Haaland, who was born in Leeds and grew up supporting the club, has a strong following in Norway and Manchester. He seems to enjoy the spotlight, often sharing self-deprecating stories on Instagram and engaging with fans. His content, including a video of him dressed as Santa Claus distributing gifts, has gained significant traction on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where he has millions of followers on Snapchat.

DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Kathimerini in Greek. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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