‘There is no one quite like him’: How a Lebanese coach helped shape Erling Haaland into a global football star

BEIRUT: Erling Braut Haaland, the 25-year-old Norwegian football star, returned home from the US with seven World Cup goals, a stuffed raccoon, two stuffed squirrels, a cowboy hat and even more global fame, earned through his phenomenal scoring ability, immense physical strength and exceptional speed, despite Norway’s failure to England in the quarterfinal.

His rapid rise in the game has made him one of football’s biggest names, with some help from the Middle East. Haaland was only 19 when he first met his Lebanese coach John Haddad online.

“Haaland had a minor issue that I won’t disclose and he overcame it using the treatment method I developed, which differs from the approaches used by most sports medicine specialists. I specialize in biomechanics and movement therapy,” Haddad told Arab News.

A post shared by John Haddad (@jhhaddad)

The Manchester City striker, considered by many to be the greatest player in Norway’s history, began his professional career at the academy of his hometown club, Bryne, before moving to Red Bull Salzburg in 2019, where he won the Austrian Bundesliga and Austrian Cup titles. In 2020, he joined Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

The world was under Covid lockdowns, and the only means of communication was online.

“That’s when we started training and therapy. I didn’t see him again until years later. He was in Germany when we started online training sessions, and this type of online training made up 80 percent of our sessions,” Haddad said.

“I can say that Haaland was an exceptionally committed person who prioritized his professionalism and training needs and worked resolutely to improve himself.”

Haddad described the Norwegian as “extremely fast, with a disciplined and determined mindset.”