Norway football star Haaland sues airline over ponytail image

OSLO – Norway’s football superstar Erling Haaland is suing airline Norwegian Air Shuttle for unlawfully using his likeness, a lawsuit which the airline claims is incomprehensible and “regrettable”, the two parties said on Oct 1.

“The case concerns Norwegian’s unlawful use of Haaland’s distinctive signs in its promotion of plane tickets during the football World Cup,” Haaland’s lawyer, Thomas Hagen, said in an e-mail to AFP, referring to the airline, which is also known simply as Norwegian.

Haaland, who plays for Manchester City, inspired Norway to reach the World Cup quarter-finals in the summer of 2026, in their first appearance in football’s showpiece event since 1998, before losing 2-1 to England.

The exact subject of the dispute is not known, but newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) reported that Norwegian has removed a photo montage showing one of its planes sporting a ponytail, which until he recently cut his hair was characteristic of Haaland, from social media.

“We’ve never looked more Norwegian,” the caption of the image read.

The airline confirmed it had received a writ “which we find hard to understand”.

“Like almost all of Norway, we supported the national team this summer, through a few spontaneous posts inspired by trends on social media,” spokeswoman Catharina Solli told AFP.

“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,” she added.

According to VG, a hearing at Oslo District Court is scheduled for Oct 9. AFP