--- description: Find out why Erling Haaland was selected for TIME‘s 2026 list of the most influential people in sports. title: TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026: Erling Haaland image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06cfa77ff303a41e/6a209b1a6c0c2c5e7f791fba/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Erling-Haaland.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y39.89 --- Jun 09, 2026 # Erling Haaland by [Sean Gregory](/author/sean-gregory/) ## Sean Gregory Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent  Caroline Tompkins for TIME [Erling Haaland](https://time.com/7303602/erling-haaland-manchester-city-interview/ "undefined"), the 6 ft. 4 in. Norwegian soccer phenom, went on another tear during the 2025-26 season: his 27 goals were tops in the Premier League, earning him his third Golden Boot. (Last year Haaland scored his 100th career Premier League goal, reaching that milestone faster than any other player in history.) And in May his team, Manchester City, won the FA Cup, an annual English domestic club knockout competition. This summer, Haaland will make his World Cup debut: his 21 goals in 14 qualifying games helped Norway make the tournament for the first time since 1998\. He will also star in a YouTube competition series premiering in the fall, and he is set to voice an animated version of himself—a Viking named Haaland—in an upcoming film. TIME100 Sports | Erling Haaland Erling Haaland: TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/erling-haaland/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/erling-haaland/"},"headline":"Erling Haaland","datePublished":"2026-06-09T12:00:58.354Z","dateModified":"2026-06-09T12:00:58.530Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/erling-haaland/","keywords":["list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06cfa77ff303a41e/6a209b1a6c0c2c5e7f791fba/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Erling-Haaland.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y39.89&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sean Gregory","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/"}],"creator":"Sean Gregory","articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06cfa77ff303a41e/6a209b1a6c0c2c5e7f791fba/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Erling-Haaland.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y39.89&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/erling-haaland/","name":"Erling Haaland"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 Sports | 4 questions that explain Erling Haaland","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hcLiy7Om/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-09T11:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hcLiy7Om.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/erling-haaland/","duration":"PT1M42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/erling-haaland/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```