History

Striking Viking

Erling Haaland is no stranger to breaking records, but his latest history-making exploit is a bit more of a bolt from the sky blue

WORDS Dom Hogan

The residents of the small town of Bryne, located in Time Municipality around 400 kilometres southwest of Oslo, need no encouragement when it comes to showing off their crown jewel. Visitors by train are welcomed to this agricultural Western Norway town by an enormous mural of Erling Haaland bearing the inscription: “Speak with your feet and everything else will be fine.” Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League final win was watched by 3,000 fans in the town square, and his boyhood team Bryne FK even run a three-and-a-half-hour ‘Haaland safari’, taking you through the places that shaped the goalscoring behemoth we know and fear today.

Haaland has become one of the biggest names in football, and so you’d forgive this superstar for leaving his home town of fewer than 14,000 people behind. Yet a particularly eye-catching recent record shows just how strong his bond to Bryne is. Back in December, Haaland completed the purchase of one of the most sought-after artefacts in Norway’s history: a 16th-century edition of the legendary Heimskringla royal sagas for around £100,000, the highest-ever fee for a book in Norway. First compiled in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and knight Snorri Sturluson, the Heimskringla tells the tales of Scandinavia’s early rulers, and remains central to understanding Norway’s history and identity.

This particular edition is one of the rarest in existence, published in 1594, but now, rather than let it collect dust in a private collection, Haaland has donated it to the public library in Bryne, where it will remain accessible for locals and visitors alike. It might seem a princely gift from a man already building a saga of his own, but for Haaland it is just another way to give something back to his home town. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us to have an ambassador like Erling,” says Time Municipality mayor Andreas Vollsund. “He’s made it very clear that he will never forget where he comes from. He’s such a good ambassador for the values that typify the area – hard work and a good relationship with nature and soil.”

The residents of the small town of Bryne, located in Time Municipality around 400 kilometres southwest of Oslo, need no encouragement when it comes to showing off their crown jewel. Visitors by train are welcomed to this agricultural Western Norway town by an enormous mural of Erling Haaland bearing the inscription: “Speak with your feet and everything else will be fine.” Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League final win was watched by 3,000 fans in the town square, and his boyhood team Bryne FK even run a three-and-a-half-hour ‘Haaland safari’, taking you through the places that shaped the goalscoring behemoth we know and fear today.

Haaland has become one of the biggest names in football, and so you’d forgive this superstar for leaving his home town of fewer than 14,000 people behind. Yet a particularly eye-catching recent record shows just how strong his bond to Bryne is. Back in December, Haaland completed the purchase of one of the most sought-after artefacts in Norway’s history: a 16th-century edition of the legendary Heimskringla royal sagas for around £100,000, the highest-ever fee for a book in Norway. First compiled in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and knight Snorri Sturluson, the Heimskringla tells the tales of Scandinavia’s early rulers, and remains central to understanding Norway’s history and identity.

This particular edition is one of the rarest in existence, published in 1594, but now, rather than let it collect dust in a private collection, Haaland has donated it to the public library in Bryne, where it will remain accessible for locals and visitors alike. It might seem a princely gift from a man already building a saga of his own, but for Haaland it is just another way to give something back to his home town. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us to have an ambassador like Erling,” says Time Municipality mayor Andreas Vollsund. “He’s made it very clear that he will never forget where he comes from. He’s such a good ambassador for the values that typify the area – hard work and a good relationship with nature and soil.”

Read the full story
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The residents of the small town of Bryne, located in Time Municipality around 400 kilometres southwest of Oslo, need no encouragement when it comes to showing off their crown jewel. Visitors by train are welcomed to this agricultural Western Norway town by an enormous mural of Erling Haaland bearing the inscription: “Speak with your feet and everything else will be fine.” Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League final win was watched by 3,000 fans in the town square, and his boyhood team Bryne FK even run a three-and-a-half-hour ‘Haaland safari’, taking you through the places that shaped the goalscoring behemoth we know and fear today.

Haaland has become one of the biggest names in football, and so you’d forgive this superstar for leaving his home town of fewer than 14,000 people behind. Yet a particularly eye-catching recent record shows just how strong his bond to Bryne is. Back in December, Haaland completed the purchase of one of the most sought-after artefacts in Norway’s history: a 16th-century edition of the legendary Heimskringla royal sagas for around £100,000, the highest-ever fee for a book in Norway. First compiled in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and knight Snorri Sturluson, the Heimskringla tells the tales of Scandinavia’s early rulers, and remains central to understanding Norway’s history and identity.

This particular edition is one of the rarest in existence, published in 1594, but now, rather than let it collect dust in a private collection, Haaland has donated it to the public library in Bryne, where it will remain accessible for locals and visitors alike. It might seem a princely gift from a man already building a saga of his own, but for Haaland it is just another way to give something back to his home town. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us to have an ambassador like Erling,” says Time Municipality mayor Andreas Vollsund. “He’s made it very clear that he will never forget where he comes from. He’s such a good ambassador for the values that typify the area – hard work and a good relationship with nature and soil.”

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Issue 27
Get your copy for interviews with Phil Foden, Scott McTominay, Victor Osimhen and more...
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“Erling was a lively kid with loads of energy. He had a good sense of humour and a very clear ambition to become a professional football player, like his father.”
By
Andreas Vollsund
An eye-catching mural of Erling Haaland in Bryne (top); Haaland with his former teacher, mayor Andreas Vollsund (above); the 1594 edition of the Heimskringla (top right)
An eye-catching mural of Erling Haaland in Bryne (top); Haaland with his former teacher, mayor Andreas Vollsund (above); the 1594 edition of the Heimskringla (top right)

A quick scroll through local team Bryne FK’s social profiles and you’ll soon get an understanding of just how prevalent “nature and soil” are here. While Bryne FK were in the Norwegian top flight last season, they are a side perhaps better known for their creative Player of the Match awards – such as four trays of eggs, ten litres of milk, 500kg of carrots and an actual live lamb – than any on-pitch exploits. It’s the sort of town where everybody knows everyone, but even so I’m still surprised to find out that mayor Vollsund has a closer connection to this local hero than most, having taught the fledgling phenomenon at school. Naturally, it’s impossible to resist asking what a teenage Haaland was like.

“Erling was a lively kid with loads of energy. He had a good sense of humour and a very clear ambition to become a professional football player, like his father,” Vollsund reveals. “As his teacher, I tried to emphasise that school is important too, and that succeeding as a professional footballer is very difficult. Looking back, it is clear to me that Erling was right and his teacher was wrong. He has made sure to tell me that several times in later years!”

Even so, it would seem that Vollsund’s lessons struck a chord all those years ago. In addition to donating the Heimskringla, Haaland has asked for a regional reading competition to be organised, with the winning classes invited to watch the striker and his team-mates in action with the national side. It may not be a sheep or enough carrots to feed all of Norway for a month, but Haaland seems to have found the perfect gift all the same.  

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History

Striking Viking

Erling Haaland is no stranger to breaking records, but his latest history-making exploit is a bit more of a bolt from the sky blue

WORDS Dom Hogan

The residents of the small town of Bryne, located in Time Municipality around 400 kilometres southwest of Oslo, need no encouragement when it comes to showing off their crown jewel. Visitors by train are welcomed to this agricultural Western Norway town by an enormous mural of Erling Haaland bearing the inscription: “Speak with your feet and everything else will be fine.” Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League final win was watched by 3,000 fans in the town square, and his boyhood team Bryne FK even run a three-and-a-half-hour ‘Haaland safari’, taking you through the places that shaped the goalscoring behemoth we know and fear today.

Haaland has become one of the biggest names in football, and so you’d forgive this superstar for leaving his home town of fewer than 14,000 people behind. Yet a particularly eye-catching recent record shows just how strong his bond to Bryne is. Back in December, Haaland completed the purchase of one of the most sought-after artefacts in Norway’s history: a 16th-century edition of the legendary Heimskringla royal sagas for around £100,000, the highest-ever fee for a book in Norway. First compiled in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and knight Snorri Sturluson, the Heimskringla tells the tales of Scandinavia’s early rulers, and remains central to understanding Norway’s history and identity.

This particular edition is one of the rarest in existence, published in 1594, but now, rather than let it collect dust in a private collection, Haaland has donated it to the public library in Bryne, where it will remain accessible for locals and visitors alike. It might seem a princely gift from a man already building a saga of his own, but for Haaland it is just another way to give something back to his home town. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us to have an ambassador like Erling,” says Time Municipality mayor Andreas Vollsund. “He’s made it very clear that he will never forget where he comes from. He’s such a good ambassador for the values that typify the area – hard work and a good relationship with nature and soil.”

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!
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Available now
Issue 27
Get your copy for interviews with Phil Foden, Scott McTominay, Victor Osimhen and more...
Buy now
“Erling was a lively kid with loads of energy. He had a good sense of humour and a very clear ambition to become a professional football player, like his father.”
By
Andreas Vollsund
An eye-catching mural of Erling Haaland in Bryne (top); Haaland with his former teacher, mayor Andreas Vollsund (above); the 1594 edition of the Heimskringla (top right)
An eye-catching mural of Erling Haaland in Bryne (top); Haaland with his former teacher, mayor Andreas Vollsund (above); the 1594 edition of the Heimskringla (top right)

A quick scroll through local team Bryne FK’s social profiles and you’ll soon get an understanding of just how prevalent “nature and soil” are here. While Bryne FK were in the Norwegian top flight last season, they are a side perhaps better known for their creative Player of the Match awards – such as four trays of eggs, ten litres of milk, 500kg of carrots and an actual live lamb – than any on-pitch exploits. It’s the sort of town where everybody knows everyone, but even so I’m still surprised to find out that mayor Vollsund has a closer connection to this local hero than most, having taught the fledgling phenomenon at school. Naturally, it’s impossible to resist asking what a teenage Haaland was like.

“Erling was a lively kid with loads of energy. He had a good sense of humour and a very clear ambition to become a professional football player, like his father,” Vollsund reveals. “As his teacher, I tried to emphasise that school is important too, and that succeeding as a professional footballer is very difficult. Looking back, it is clear to me that Erling was right and his teacher was wrong. He has made sure to tell me that several times in later years!”

Even so, it would seem that Vollsund’s lessons struck a chord all those years ago. In addition to donating the Heimskringla, Haaland has asked for a regional reading competition to be organised, with the winning classes invited to watch the striker and his team-mates in action with the national side. It may not be a sheep or enough carrots to feed all of Norway for a month, but Haaland seems to have found the perfect gift all the same.  

History

Striking Viking

Erling Haaland is no stranger to breaking records, but his latest history-making exploit is a bit more of a bolt from the sky blue

WORDS Dom Hogan

The residents of the small town of Bryne, located in Time Municipality around 400 kilometres southwest of Oslo, need no encouragement when it comes to showing off their crown jewel. Visitors by train are welcomed to this agricultural Western Norway town by an enormous mural of Erling Haaland bearing the inscription: “Speak with your feet and everything else will be fine.” Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League final win was watched by 3,000 fans in the town square, and his boyhood team Bryne FK even run a three-and-a-half-hour ‘Haaland safari’, taking you through the places that shaped the goalscoring behemoth we know and fear today.

Haaland has become one of the biggest names in football, and so you’d forgive this superstar for leaving his home town of fewer than 14,000 people behind. Yet a particularly eye-catching recent record shows just how strong his bond to Bryne is. Back in December, Haaland completed the purchase of one of the most sought-after artefacts in Norway’s history: a 16th-century edition of the legendary Heimskringla royal sagas for around £100,000, the highest-ever fee for a book in Norway. First compiled in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and knight Snorri Sturluson, the Heimskringla tells the tales of Scandinavia’s early rulers, and remains central to understanding Norway’s history and identity.

This particular edition is one of the rarest in existence, published in 1594, but now, rather than let it collect dust in a private collection, Haaland has donated it to the public library in Bryne, where it will remain accessible for locals and visitors alike. It might seem a princely gift from a man already building a saga of his own, but for Haaland it is just another way to give something back to his home town. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us to have an ambassador like Erling,” says Time Municipality mayor Andreas Vollsund. “He’s made it very clear that he will never forget where he comes from. He’s such a good ambassador for the values that typify the area – hard work and a good relationship with nature and soil.”

The residents of the small town of Bryne, located in Time Municipality around 400 kilometres southwest of Oslo, need no encouragement when it comes to showing off their crown jewel. Visitors by train are welcomed to this agricultural Western Norway town by an enormous mural of Erling Haaland bearing the inscription: “Speak with your feet and everything else will be fine.” Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League final win was watched by 3,000 fans in the town square, and his boyhood team Bryne FK even run a three-and-a-half-hour ‘Haaland safari’, taking you through the places that shaped the goalscoring behemoth we know and fear today.

Haaland has become one of the biggest names in football, and so you’d forgive this superstar for leaving his home town of fewer than 14,000 people behind. Yet a particularly eye-catching recent record shows just how strong his bond to Bryne is. Back in December, Haaland completed the purchase of one of the most sought-after artefacts in Norway’s history: a 16th-century edition of the legendary Heimskringla royal sagas for around £100,000, the highest-ever fee for a book in Norway. First compiled in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and knight Snorri Sturluson, the Heimskringla tells the tales of Scandinavia’s early rulers, and remains central to understanding Norway’s history and identity.

This particular edition is one of the rarest in existence, published in 1594, but now, rather than let it collect dust in a private collection, Haaland has donated it to the public library in Bryne, where it will remain accessible for locals and visitors alike. It might seem a princely gift from a man already building a saga of his own, but for Haaland it is just another way to give something back to his home town. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us to have an ambassador like Erling,” says Time Municipality mayor Andreas Vollsund. “He’s made it very clear that he will never forget where he comes from. He’s such a good ambassador for the values that typify the area – hard work and a good relationship with nature and soil.”

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!
Sign UpSign In

The residents of the small town of Bryne, located in Time Municipality around 400 kilometres southwest of Oslo, need no encouragement when it comes to showing off their crown jewel. Visitors by train are welcomed to this agricultural Western Norway town by an enormous mural of Erling Haaland bearing the inscription: “Speak with your feet and everything else will be fine.” Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League final win was watched by 3,000 fans in the town square, and his boyhood team Bryne FK even run a three-and-a-half-hour ‘Haaland safari’, taking you through the places that shaped the goalscoring behemoth we know and fear today.

Haaland has become one of the biggest names in football, and so you’d forgive this superstar for leaving his home town of fewer than 14,000 people behind. Yet a particularly eye-catching recent record shows just how strong his bond to Bryne is. Back in December, Haaland completed the purchase of one of the most sought-after artefacts in Norway’s history: a 16th-century edition of the legendary Heimskringla royal sagas for around £100,000, the highest-ever fee for a book in Norway. First compiled in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and knight Snorri Sturluson, the Heimskringla tells the tales of Scandinavia’s early rulers, and remains central to understanding Norway’s history and identity.

This particular edition is one of the rarest in existence, published in 1594, but now, rather than let it collect dust in a private collection, Haaland has donated it to the public library in Bryne, where it will remain accessible for locals and visitors alike. It might seem a princely gift from a man already building a saga of his own, but for Haaland it is just another way to give something back to his home town. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us to have an ambassador like Erling,” says Time Municipality mayor Andreas Vollsund. “He’s made it very clear that he will never forget where he comes from. He’s such a good ambassador for the values that typify the area – hard work and a good relationship with nature and soil.”

Available now
Issue 27
Get your copy for interviews with Phil Foden, Scott McTominay, Victor Osimhen and more...
Buy now
“Erling was a lively kid with loads of energy. He had a good sense of humour and a very clear ambition to become a professional football player, like his father.”
By
Andreas Vollsund
An eye-catching mural of Erling Haaland in Bryne (top); Haaland with his former teacher, mayor Andreas Vollsund (above); the 1594 edition of the Heimskringla (top right)
An eye-catching mural of Erling Haaland in Bryne (top); Haaland with his former teacher, mayor Andreas Vollsund (above); the 1594 edition of the Heimskringla (top right)

A quick scroll through local team Bryne FK’s social profiles and you’ll soon get an understanding of just how prevalent “nature and soil” are here. While Bryne FK were in the Norwegian top flight last season, they are a side perhaps better known for their creative Player of the Match awards – such as four trays of eggs, ten litres of milk, 500kg of carrots and an actual live lamb – than any on-pitch exploits. It’s the sort of town where everybody knows everyone, but even so I’m still surprised to find out that mayor Vollsund has a closer connection to this local hero than most, having taught the fledgling phenomenon at school. Naturally, it’s impossible to resist asking what a teenage Haaland was like.

“Erling was a lively kid with loads of energy. He had a good sense of humour and a very clear ambition to become a professional football player, like his father,” Vollsund reveals. “As his teacher, I tried to emphasise that school is important too, and that succeeding as a professional footballer is very difficult. Looking back, it is clear to me that Erling was right and his teacher was wrong. He has made sure to tell me that several times in later years!”

Even so, it would seem that Vollsund’s lessons struck a chord all those years ago. In addition to donating the Heimskringla, Haaland has asked for a regional reading competition to be organised, with the winning classes invited to watch the striker and his team-mates in action with the national side. It may not be a sheep or enough carrots to feed all of Norway for a month, but Haaland seems to have found the perfect gift all the same.  

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