Without a doubt, Erling Haaland would’ve much rather been returning to Norway with the FIFA World Cup trophy in hand.
But while his team fell short, the star striker did at least get one souvenir from his time in the U.S. — and it was unique to say the least.
Haaland, who has been one of the biggest stars of the tournament both on and off the pitch, emerged from the team plane in Oslo with his bags and an eye-catching item in hand.
During a stop in Dallas, Haaland had picked up a taxidermy whiskey-drinking raccoon from Wild Bill’s Western Store – and his new furry friend “followed him home.”
Fans online loved the souvenir, with Haaland’s post on X racking up more than 647,000 likes and 16.3 million views in less than 24 hours.
The Manchester City forward documented his trip to the store on Instagram in early July, including a clip featuring the raccoon – which had a price tag of $750 – as well as a Budweiser-drinking squirrel and a squirrel wearing a cowboy hat.
What did Wild Bill’s owner say?
Wild Bill’s owner, Julie Newport, said that business has been booming since Haaland’s visit – especially from international orders, which hadn’t been an option until recently.
“We are somewhere around 2,000 online orders right now, about 30% of that is international but every day when we wake up, we have more orders,” she told The Athletic. “For international, we just didn’t have that ability turned on before (Haaland visited).”
She also confirmed that Haaland made a few purchases from the store, including a cowboy hat branded with his initials and his No. 9.
But it was the raccoon, which was holding an empty bottle of Greenall’s wild berry gin, that captured the most attention.
“We’ve had a couple of these taxidermy raccoons in the store for the last few years, and he obviously gravitated to that and a couple of the squirrels,” Newport said. “(Since he posted on social media), we ordered another raccoon — we put it out on the floor today but by the time we put it on the floor, someone already bought it online.
“The taxidermy guy that we buy from has retired. I think I might have one or two more coming.”
How did Haaland get so popular?
Haaland’s American adventures were well-documented on his social media feeds, with fans taking notice of his fun-loving persona – a stark contrast to his Viking-like intensity on the pitch.
Since the start of the tournament, Haaland has seen his Instagram followers grow by more than 22 million.
While Norway’s “Viking Row” has become an internet sensation, Haaland also helped an American influencer go viral.
Emma Kate Willman has seen her follower count rise to more than 237,000 since Haaland commented on one of her videos on Instagram.
Willman even scored an invite to Miami to host a Haaland lookalike contest before Saturday’s quarterfinal, with the winner earning tickets to the match.
What’s next for Haaland?
With Norway having been eliminated by England in the quarterfinals, Norwegian players now get a bit of a summer break before heading back to their clubs.
Haaland, who scored seven goals for Norway at the World Cup, will be looking to keep up his scoring ways with City when the English Premier League kicks off next month.
Haaland has won the EPL’s Golden Boot in three of the past four seasons and scored 27 goals during the 2025-26 campaign.