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Manchester City and Norway star Erling Haaland is suing Norwegian Air Shuttle over the alleged unauthorised use of his likeness in the airline’s promotion of flights during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Haaland’s lawyer, Thomas Hagen, confirmed the legal action, saying the case concerns the airline’s alleged use of Haaland’s distinctive image in its World Cup advertising.
“The case concerns Norwegian’s unlawful use of Haaland’s distinctive signs in its promotion of plane tickets during the football World Cup,” Hagen said in an email to AFP.
The dispute reportedly centres on a social media image posted by the airline showing one of its aircraft with a ponytail, a hairstyle strongly associated with Haaland before he recently cut his hair.
The image was reportedly accompanied by the caption: “We’ve never looked more Norwegian.”
Norwegian Air Shuttle confirmed that it had received a writ from Haaland, but said it was difficult to understand why the matter had escalated into legal action.
“Like almost all of Norway, we supported the national team this summer, through a few spontaneous posts inspired by trends on social media,” airline spokeswoman Catharina Solli told AFP.
She described the legal action as regrettable and said the airline hoped the dispute could be resolved through dialogue.
“It is regrettable that this support has been met with legal action, but we hope to have a reasonable dialogue so that we can continue, in the future as well, to support our common sport heroes,” Solli said.
Haaland was one of the leading figures in Norway’s historic World Cup campaign this summer, as the country reached the quarter-finals in its first appearance at the tournament since 1998.
Norway were eventually eliminated after a 2-1 defeat to England.
According to Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, a hearing in the case has been scheduled for October 9 at the Oslo District Court.
