Manchester City's Premier League title defence in 2022/23 was powered by an incredible first season in English football for Erling Haaland.
City completed a move to bring Haaland to the Etihad Stadium in June 2022 as part of a protracted transfer chase, and the 22-year-old has been incredible for Pep Guardiola's side.
His 36 Premier League goals broke the Golden Boot record jointly held by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer to cap a dominant year for the former Borussia Dortmund hotshot.
However, despite his rise to the very top of European club football, his international career has stalled as Norway have failed to qualify for a major tournament since 2000.
Where was Erling Haaland born?
Haaland was asked about his decision to represent Norway shortly after joining City, with the striker also eligible to play for England.
Erling Haaland could have been playing for England at the World Cup 🏴🇳🇴 pic.twitter.com/eOIWyW8mfA
— GOAL (@goal) November 10, 2022
The option to play for England was available as Haaland was born in Leeds, during his father's time playing for Leeds United from 1997 to 2000.
However, Haaland Sr opted to move the family back to his native Norway in 2004 after he retired from football due to a persistent knee injury suffered in his own spell at City.
Haaland Jr spent the next 13 years of his life in Norway, coming through the youth ranks at Bryne FC, before moving to Molde in 2017 and on to RB Salzburg in Austria in 2019.
As part of his Norway career, Haaland has represented the country at every level from U15 up to the senior squad.
Has Erling Haaland played in a World Cup?
Haaland made his senior debut for Norway in November 2019, in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier against Malta, scored his first international goal a year later.
Despite Norway's failure to qualify for either Euro 2020 or the 2022 World Cup, Haaland is unfazed by not playing in a major international tournament so far in his career and he remains fully committed to Norway duty.
History is littered with world-class players who never played at a World Cup, including David Ginola, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, George Weah and George Best.
Erling Haaland caps and goals for Norway
The current Norway side will be confident of reaching a major competition in the coming years, with Haaland flanked by Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard in midfield, and partnered by Real Sociedad star Alexander Sørloth in attack.
Ahead of a Euro 2024 double header, against Scotland and Cyprus, Haaland has amassed 21 international goals from 23 caps.
He is already eighth on the all-time Norwegian national team goalscorers list, with Jørgen Juve's 33 goals a realistic target for Haaland.
