Manchester City's pre-season may already be under way, but Erling Haaland is still savouring the summer of his career — and on Friday he added an image to the highlight reel that had nothing to do with football at all.
The Norwegian striker, holidaying in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, ran into Michael Jordan and posed for a photo with the NBA icon. Haaland posted the picture on Instagram with a caption that needed no translation: "No caption needed."
It is the kind of image that explains itself — two of sport's most recognisable faces, arms around each other, sunglasses on, on a break from the spotlight that follows them both. Fans online were quick to dub it a meeting of "two GOATs."
Haaland has earned the downtime. He was one of the standout performers of the 2026 World Cup, helping Norway reach their first ever quarterfinal at the tournament after eliminating Brazil 2-1 in the last 16, a game in which he scored twice.
Norway's run ended in heartbreak against England, who won 2-1 after extra time thanks to a Jude Bellingham brace, with Andreas Schjelderup's early goal not enough to see the Norwegians through. Haaland went into that quarterfinal having scored seven times in the tournament, tied for third on the World Cup's scoring charts, but could not add to his tally against Jordan Pickford and England's defence.
Since Norway's exit, Haaland's summer has played out as a string of celebrity moments — from a Dolce & Gabbana show in Taormina with his girlfriend, Isabel Haugseng Johansen, to now a Riviera run-in with Jordan. Manchester City, meanwhile, are already back in training and are due to play three pre-season friendlies in Asia before opening their competitive season away to Arsenal on August 16.
