Haaland’s myth slides onto the post-World Cup “souvenir”: a $750 stuffed raccoon (which sends a terrible message)

The 2026 World Cup has definitively established Erling Haaland as one of the most influential pop icons on the planet, capable of overshadowing historical giants of world football. Although his national team was eliminated in the quarter-finals by England 2-1 at the end of a match inflamed by controversy over the VAR, the Manchester City giant literally dominated the media scene, gaining over twenty million new followers on Instagram and even climbing the music charts thanks to the remix of a rap song written in his youth.

The chilling souvenir

Yet, as soon as the spotlights of the American stadiums went out, the Norwegian center forward managed to make headlines for a gesture that raised a global wave of indignation and perplexity: his landing at Oslo airport clutching a showy stuffed raccoon drinking whiskey in his arms.

The controversial heirloom, renamed Whiskey Raccoonwas purchased strictly privately in Dallas at the famous store Wild Bill’s Western Store. The owner of the business, Julie Newport, revealed the details of Erling Haaland’s shopping, explaining that the athlete not only shelled out $750 for the raccoon, but also bought a pair of stuffed squirrels in the act of drinking beer which enriched a rather macabre “collection” later shown on her Instagram stories.

If from a commercial point of view the effect was disruptive – with the e-commerce of the Texan boutique clogged with over two thousand immediate orders from all over the world – on the level of ethics and good taste the initiative turned out to be a terrible fall in style. Exhibiting dead animals treated as living room fetishes, even promoting a social poll among the names “Tex”, “Cowboy”, “Ranger” or “ROW” to name the trophy, represents a heavy step backwards that fuels an anachronistic and ruthless market.

@erling/Instagram

Ox heart and raw milk: the extreme food obsession

However, Erling Haaland’s antics are not limited to the tasteless souvenirs brought home from Texas. The general public at the World Cup was fascinated and at the same time amazed to discover the details of his daily routine and, in particular, his impressive 6000 calorie daily diet.

Far from the stereotypes of the modern footballer who relies on star chefs and canonical diets, the Norwegian has structured his diet together with his father Alfie Haaland and a dedicated nutritionist, focusing exclusively on high-calorie and primordial foods.

The bomber’s daily menu is based on the massive consumption of tomahawk steaks, raw honey and eggs, but what raises the greatest criticism is the abuse of raw milk and, above all, the obsession with bovine offal. In the documentary entitled Haaland: The Big Decisionthe striker proudly claimed the choice to regularly eat cow heart and liver, unusual foods that he personally buys from a trusted farm in Cheshire.

Although the world football star declares that he wants to consume food in the most natural way possible to transform his body into a perfect goal machine, the choice to publicly promote a diet so unbalanced towards the extreme consumption of meat and offal, combined with a passion for western leather goods and taxidermy, risks transforming a sports idol into the perfect testimonial of an unsustainable consumption model.