Norway’s star football player Erling Braut Haaland has come a long way since he used to willingly pose for photos, sported fluffy haircuts and dropped out of school to concentrate on his sport. Now he’s very wealthy, protected from the media glare and starting a family, but has admitted to being scared by his own mother.
Haaland is still only 25 years old, but he’s being paid huge amounts of money to play professionally for Manchester City, flies around in private jets and has profited strongly on his own investments. Oslo-based newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) has been going through well-known Norwegians’ tax returns (which are public documents in Norway) and the annual reports of their companies.
DN reported this week that Haaland’s investment firm, Pillage 3 AS, shows profits before tax of NOK 24.5 million (USD 2.4 million) for 2024. That’s seven times higher than Pillage 3’s profits in 2023, largely because of higher values of its securities holdings.
Haaland’s company’s stock portfolio was valued at NOK 223.7 million at the end of last year, up from NOK 85 million at the end of 2023. The profit has been transferred to Pillage 3’s own capital, which amounted to NOK 127.9 million in December 2024, up from NOK 13.4 million the year before. Debt, meanwhile, was listed as NOK 126 million.
Haaland’s father Archie, also a former football player, is listed as a member of the board of Pillage 3 that’s led by another football pro, Egil Østenstad. DN reported that Pillage 3 is owned by Haaland himself through a Luxembourg-registered company called Pillage 2. Norwegian business news service E24 has reported that Pillage 2 was valued at EUR 12.85 at the end of 2023.
‘Never been so scared’
Haaland’s father, who has also been profiting handsomely on his son’s success, is often referred to as the Manchester City star’s manager, but Haaland himself has reportedly told US-based TIME Magazine that his mother objected strongly when he left school as a teenager to play football full-time. Haaland rarely grants interviews and has been controversially shielded from the press on several occasions.
Oslo newspaper Aftenposten, however, reports that Haaland was recently interviewed by TIME. He told the news magazine that he’d “never been so scared” as when his mother reacted with anger when he dropped out of high school at 16 to play professionally for Norwegian team Molde. He claims she was so angry that he was genuinely frightened, but acknowledged that she’s accepted her son’s decision since. TIME’s story is due to be released later this month.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund