EVEN IF YOU don’t follow soccer you probably recognize Erling Halaand. The 6’5” striker with the Viking man-bun has dominated England’s Premier League playing for Manchester City and powered his national team Norway to a spot in this summer’s Fifa World Cup. The 25-year-old averages almost a goal per game for club and country, a strike ratio that’s among the best in history.
Halaand has also teamed up with Marriott Bonvoy and Visa for a campaign for the World Cup called For Fans, Everywhere. There are 600 ticket packages available for all 104 games of the tournament, purchasable via points, auction packages, and 1-point drops on the Marriott Bonvoy Moments platform. The highlight is a chance to win a Sleepover Suite experience for the World Cup final: an overnight stay for two inside a converted luxury box at the New York New Jersey Stadium (aka Met Life). In a rare interview Halaand spoke to Men’s Health about how he stays in peak condition mentally and physically.
Men’s Health: You’re always on the road and traveling, what are your top hotel hacks?
Erling Haaland: I always have my iPad with me to watch whatever series and help me disconnect because it’s important to stay focused when I should focus, but also important to relax and disconnect from everything. Of course I wear blue light glasses because, you need to sleep good as well.
MH: Do you have a favorite show you’re watching right now?
EH: You know I like different Viking things, so I’m watching The Last Kingdom, which is amazing so far.
MH: You do a lot of cooking on your YouTube channel, do you have a favorite go-to meal before a match?
EH: I love pasta, so normally I eat pasta. I eat a lot of fish as well. I’m from Norway and we get brought up with fish meat and potatoes. Norwegian salmon is popular thing throughout the whole world, so of course salmon.
MH: Do you have a cheat meal or a guilty pleasure meal you eat to celebrate?
EH: I love steak, so normally I eat steak after every game. It’s healthy, so it’s not a cheat meal. I also try to make cheat meals as healthy as possible, so if I make tacos, I make them in healthy ways, slow cooking some meat or whatever with good ingredients. I would have to say tacos are my cheat meal.
MH: What’s the best advice you’ve received that helps you prepare mentally?
EH: It’s about looking ahead and staying in the present. Not to think about what happened or what could have happened or anything. It’s about thinking about the next action and staying in the moment. You don’t think too much about what will or will not happen, you just try be in the moment and stay positive because no matter what happens, you cannot do anything with the past, only the present and the future.
I try not to overthink everything, even though there are a lot of things happening in the world right now. Try to enjoy every second of your life because life is shorter than we think. It goes so quick. I’m already 25 years old, and it feels like yesterday I was a teenager running around in my hometown, so life goes really fast. It’s about enjoying every single moment, even the small moments in your daily life. And of course, celebrate the good ones, the big ones as well.
MH: That’s a neat segue to my next question, which is about your iconic goal celebration, the meditation pose. What other player celebrations do you really like, and what doing a goal celebration forges a connection with the fans?
EH: I don’t really plan any of my celebrations. The first thing I think of in my head after I score is what I do. I like my meditation celebration, which I do when I feel the timing is right. There’s a lot good celebrations out there. Jude Bellingham has a good celebration. Everyone knows Cristiano Ronaldo’s celebration. There’s many good ones!
MH: At Manchester City, your teammates include Rodri, Rayan Cherki, Nico O’Reilly, Bernardo Silva, Jérémy Doku, Antoine Semenyo, Joško Gvardiol, Abdukodir Khusanov … many of the top players from around the globe. Who are your top three favorite teams to win the World Cup?
EH: I think France has to be there. France is amazing and they’ve been doing amazing every single competition, so France. I’m going to say Spain as well. Spain will be up there. And the last one? I want to say England, but you know what, I’m gonna say Portugal. I think Portugal will do really well this year.
MH: Tell me about your partnership with Marriott Bonvoy and Visa and what is happening around the Sleepover Suite at the World Cup Final?
EH: First of all, I think it’s a crazy thing. The experience of the people who will be able to wake up in the morning in the stadium for the World Cup final is probably something that has never happened before. So it will be a unique experience. It’s a big dream for any football fan. They’re also offering tickets to every match.
MH: Data from the Premier League reveals that you sprint as fast as 35 kilometers an hour in games. What exercises you do that help you sprint that fast consistently?
EH: We train on the field almost every day. It’s about preparation to be ready so my body can sprint, and I’m able to do it again and again because I sprint a lot in games. And with a big body it’s not the easiest. It’s important to warm up well, do gym exercises to stay sharp and ready, and maintain fitness with lot of treatment and recovery.
MH: Often it seems like defenders are grabbing holding of you and it’s more like rugby. How do you train your legs, core, and upper body to stay strong?
EH: That’s true. It’s a lot of rugby and wrestling on the pitch lately, which is a good thing. It’s a positive thing that people are doing this to me because it means I’m doing something right. Of course I train in the gym and I have to have a good core. I have to be strong in my upper body, in my lower body. When we train and I go against the center backs at Man City, I think this is the best training group you can have because the quality is so high.
Ben Court is the Executive Editor of Men’s Health. He has a decade of experience writing and editing stories about peak performance, as it relates to health, nutrition, fitness, weight loss, and sex and relationships. He enjoys yoga, cycling, running, swimming, lifting, grilling, and napping.
