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Erling Haaland Pays Tribute to First Norwegian Player at Man City

Erling Haaland, Manchester City

Norwegian football has been growing rapidly over the last few years, with Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard at the forefront.

More and more Norwegian players have been plying their trade in English football, including the likes of Martin Odegaard at Arsenal, Sander Berge at Fulham, Jacob Strand Larsen at Wolves, and Kristoffer Ajer at Brentford.

Interestingly, Manchester City features two Norwegian superstars, Erling Haaland and Oscar Bobb.

Both Haaland and Bobb are thriving as they’ve been key players in Manchester City’s triumphs over the years.

While the Norwegian contingent is thriving in Manchester today, it was a sad day for the Man City-Norway connection as the player who started it all tragically passed away.

Manchester City and Scandinavian football lost a notable figure last week as Norway legend Age Fridtjof Hareide passed away on December 18th at the age of 72 after battling brain cancer.

Age Fridtjof Hareide was among the earliest Norwegian footballers to have played in England. Upon his debut for Manchester City in 1981, Hareide became the first Norwegian to play for the blue side of Manchester and only the second Norwegian (after Einar Aas) to play for an English top-flight club.

Once his storied career ended, he ended up becoming a highly respected coach, managing clubs like Molde, Brondby, Malmo, and more, winning 8 trophies as a manager. He also managed national teams like Norway, Denmark, and Iceland (his last managerial job).

As someone who broke down the doors for Norwegian footballers, Hareide was a source of inspiration for many upcoming footballers, including Erling Haaland.

Haaland, who scored a brace this weekend to help Manchester City get a routine 3-0 win over West Ham, paid tribute to his fellow Norwegian by gifting his match shirt to Hareide’s grandchildren.

Haaland signed the jersey he wore against Everton and will be gifting it to Hareide’s grandchildren in honour of their grandfather.

After the match, Haaland was interviewed by Norwegian journalist Jan Arge Fjortoft, where he discussed Åge’s career and impact on Norwegian football:

“Of course, he’s a big profile, in Norway for us Norwegians, but also all of Scandinavia. So it’s a big miss, and he’s a beacon as both a player and coach. And then he’s obviously played in City too, the first Norwegian at City, and that’s of course pretty special. Condolences to all affected.”

As Haaland had already revealed that he’ll be gifting the jersey, Fjortoft had already procured a Thank You message from Åge’s grandchildren, who were happy to receive the gift from Haaland.

During the same interview, Haaland, who had just scored his 148th and 149th goals for Manchester City, also discussed how he’s looking forward to spending time with his family during Christmas.

“I’m very much looking forward to it (Christmas). It’s great to be with my family, and I’m going to enjoy it.

It’s nice to have some time off, and it’s nice to play football too so I can’t complain.”

Haaland had a stellar performance this weekend, scoring 2 goals and assisting 1 goal to take his tally for the season to 19 goals and 4 assists in 17 appearances. With the 3-0 win, Manchester City remain 2 points behind Arsenal, keeping up the pressure as the two teams head into the business end of the season.

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