Alf-Inge Haaland

Club career

Early life and career

Haaland was born on 23 November 1972 in Stavanger, Rogaland, and was raised in nearby Bryne. He joined the youth team of his hometown club Bryne in 1979. He made his first-team debut in 1989, aged 17, and established himself in the team the following year after signing his first professional contract with Bryne.

Nottingham Forest

Haaland moved to England, joining First Division club Nottingham Forest after a protracted transfer. Attempts to sign Haaland started with Brian Clough in October 1992 but the transfer was completed in December 1993, after Frank Clark became manager. He made his debut for Forest against Leicester City.

Leeds United

In July 1997, Haaland joined Leeds United under George Graham. He made his Leeds debut against Arsenal on 9 August. In September, when Manchester United were losing 1–0 to Haaland's Leeds United at Elland Road, Roy Keane injured his anterior cruciate ligament running for the ball with Haaland. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Haaland, unaware of the seriousness of the injury, stood over him and criticised Keane, suggesting that he was merely feigning injury to try to gain a penalty. Haaland was booked as Keane was stretchered off the field and was out of action for nearly a year afterward. On 26 December 1997, Haaland scored a goal in a 3–1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, a feat later achieved by his son, Erling Haaland, on 2 October 2019 while playing for Red Bull Salzburg.

He was part of the Leeds team which reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals during the 1999–2000 season and which also qualified for the Champions League.

Manchester City

In 2000, Haaland left Leeds to join Manchester City for a fee of £2.5 million. In April 2001, during a match against Manchester United, Roy Keane tackled Haaland, kicking him high on his right knee, for which he was immediately sent off. Of the incident, Haaland said: "I'm only glad my leg was off the ground, otherwise he would have done me a lot of damage". Keane was subsequently fined £5,000 and received a three-match ban. In his autobiography, published a year later, Keane stated that the tackle was a pre-meditated, deliberate act of vengeance against Haaland for the on-field criticism he received from him three and a half years previously. After this revelation, Keane found himself subject to an FA inquiry. He claimed inaccurate paraphrasing by his ghostwriter but received an additional five-game ban and a £150,000 fine for bringing the sport into disrepute. Following the tackle, Haaland had initially claimed Keane would not dare to look him in the eye, and he once said: "I really dislike [Manchester] United and I can't stand their players".

At the time of Keane's tackle, Haaland's left knee was already giving him sufficient problems for him to have to play with strapping around it. After the tackle, Haaland finished the match and played a midweek friendly for Norway coming off at half-time, and the next league game, coming off in the 68th minute. That summer, he underwent surgery on his left knee but only managed a further four substitute appearances the following season, and finally retired in July 2003 after failing to recover full fitness. Haaland was originally contracted with Manchester City until the end of the 2004–05 season, but in his contract, it was stated that City could terminate the contract if medical conditions indicated that he could not play first-team football again, and decided to use this option.

Following the release of Keane's autobiography in 2002, Haaland and Manchester City stated that they were considering taking legal action against Keane. However, it emerged that Haaland had stated on his website that he had been playing with the injury to his left knee for a few months, that his left leg did not receive a knock in the game (Keane kicked his right thigh), and that Keane did not cause his long term injury. Legal action was dropped in February 2003 after the club reviewed the medical advice.

Rosseland

Haaland came out of retirement after eight years, to play for the Bryne-based club Rosseland in the Norwegian Third Division in August 2011. He retired again in 2013.

International career

Haaland made his debut for Norway in a friendly match against Costa Rica in January 1994. He was later named in Norway's squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup where he played the matches against Mexico and Italy. Haaland was capped a total of 34 times, with his last international appearance against Bulgaria in April 2001. Along with Hallvar Thoresen, Dan Eggen, Espen Baardsen, Hans Herman Henriksen, Oscar Bobb and Joshua King, Haaland is among the few players to have played for the Norway national team without ever playing in the domestic top division.

Personal life

Haaland met Gry Marita Braut, an accomplished Norwegian heptathlon athlete, in the mid-1990s while he was in England playing for Nottingham Forest. They were married and had three children, a daughter Gabrielle, and two sons, Astor and Erling. Erling became a professional footballer like his father. Erling plays for Manchester City, a club which Alfie also played for. Alfie's nephew, Albert Tjåland, is also a professional footballer, a striker who last played for Molde.

After his divorce from Gry Marita Braut, Haaland married Anita Strømsvol and they have two daughters.

During his playing career, his surname was spelled as both Håland and Haaland. His first name was Alf-Inge and he came to be nicknamed "Alfie". He changed his name to Alfie Haaland in 2016 so his name would work better internationally.

Like his father and grandfather, Haaland was an Arsenal supporter, attending the 2000 UEFA Cup final while still playing for Leeds United.

In 2026, Erling and Alfie donated a 1594 Snorri Sturluson chronicle to the library in Time Municipality in the region of Jæren. They paid the Norwegian record sum of 1.3 million Norwegian kroner ($133,636) for the book, stating that the volume could be put on display so that local inhabitants could read about their history.

Career statistics