When Erling Haaland left the pitch in the 105th minute of Norway’s quarter-final clash with England on July 11, it marked the end of a charmed World Cup run, not just for the Manchester City striker but for his brand sponsors also.
“He has been so exciting during this tournament,” said Andrea Fairchild, svp of global sponsorship strategy at Visa.
The payments brand first decided to bring Haaland aboard for its World Cup campaign a year ago, alongside luminaries like Spanish star Lamine Yamal and Christian Pulisic, arguably the best known American player. According to Fairchild, Haaland was principally chosen for his penchant for scoring “tap-ins” (for the non-soccer heads: one-touch goals scored at very close range); the campaign offers Visa card holders the chance to win prizes and merchandise every time such a goal is put away during the tournament. The campaign ran on broadcast TV, paid social and included digital stadium OOH inventory.
Norway’s unexpected success (at least, until last Saturday) and Haaland’s goofball charisma — exhibited on Snapchat, in press interviews and a YouTube channel launched 12 months back, as charted by The Athletic — have introduced the blonde forward to a huge swathe of the U.S. public, just as fan loyalty is pivoting from team affiliation to individual stars. Nearly one-third (32%) of Gen Z fans say they support individual athletes over specific teams, according to a study published this week by YouGov, USC Annenberg and marketing agency group ACC.
“He especially resonates with first-time football watchers,” said Jasmin Fischer, svp of research and insights at SAMY. Haaland’s presence on X and Instagram has grown throughout the tournament, adding over 5 million followers across both platforms, according to Sprout Social.
The breakthrough has provided an unexpected boost to Visa’s campaign. “It’s a true testament to his personality, and the access that he was willing to share with the fan base,” said Fairchild.
Visa’s not the only one. In addition to appearances in support of Manchester City brand partners like neobank Revolut, Haaland’s brand sponsors also include watchmaker Breitling, Beats by Dre, home appliances company Midea and of course Nike, in whose “Rip the Script” ad he takes a starring role.
Why Haaland broke through
While their executives will be pleased with Haaland’s cup form, there are lessons here for marketers who lack the good fortune (or the finances) to rope in a nascent national talisman. Visa’s selection, Fairchild notes, wasn’t left to luck.
“We did a tremendous amount of research,” she said, noting that the process to pick Haaland began a year out from the World Cup, before Norway had even officially qualified for the competition.
Haaland was well-suited for U.S. stardom. He’s a reliable goalscorer for club and country but a mercurial presence off the pitch, the eccentric exterior seen online an excellent mask for an athlete with sky-high ambitions. (“My dream is to touch the ball five times and score five goals,” he said in a 2022 interview.) All of which make him a closer fit for U.S. star athletes like Michael Jordan than his teammates at Manchester City — a club noted for an anti-individualistic culture.
Similarly, Zlatan Ibrahimović’s emergence as a fan favorite this World Cup, in his role as a Fox presenter rather than a player, shares common factors with Haaland’s. Like the Norwegian, the former Sweden striker blends accessibility (think of the behind-the-scenes footage of him and fellow presenter Thierry Henry playing soccer in the studio), Scandi bluntness and an aura of supreme confidence. Like Haaland, his social presence has expanded to include 65 million Instagram followers during this World Cup, while his TikTok follower base increased 7% since the beginning of the tournament, per Sprout Social.
“He’s unapologetically being himself. It’s refreshing,” said Fischer.
Ibrahimović’s breakthrough owes something to the traditional media organization he’s supported by, but both stars present as accessible and funny ambassadors for soccer itself — a sport ostensibly dominated by high-minded Mitteleuropean concepts like “gegenpress”, passing triangles and narrow margins, but in fact a crucible for planet-sized egos, seesaw game narratives and David v. Goliath matchups. U.S. viewers experiencing soccer-mania for the first time are, in reality, sampling a product assembled at a superstar-making factory.
Finding the next Zlatan
Though some brands will surely be keen to snap up Ibrahimović or Haaland as ambassadors, it might be more valuable to learn from their rise — and apply those lessons in advance of the next Olympic Games, NBA Finals or Super Bowl.
“We’re already doing 2027 planning with brands… what we are trying to weigh up is exactly this,” said Piet Southey, U.S. managing director of Billion Dollar Boy.
Though perhaps a bizarre thought for Premier League fans already acquainted with his goalscoring record, Haaland has also benefitted from an underdog narrative at the World Cup. Perhaps more important is his embrace of social media, however. Southey noted that both stars, as well as other players gaining traction like England’s Jude Bellingham, have used social media and particularly player-run YouTube channels (Haaland’s YouTube following has doubled to 3.1 million subscribers, per Billion Dollar Boy estimates) to provide a level of access to footage of them traveling and training that past soccer stars like Beckham eschewed.
“People just want [them] to shine the light on their actual personalities,” said Southey.
CMOs need to give such personalities space to breathe if they want to piggyback on a breakthrough moment, noted Fischer. “Give them the freedom to be themselves, without too many brand guidelines,” she advised.
Southey pointed to BDB client Dove Men+Care’s recent deal with Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks, following his team’s first NBA Finals win since 1973, as an example of a brand moving on a future star. “He’s a bit of a personality as well,” said Southey.
Marketers looking for their next sporting brand ambassador don’t just need to look for figures leaving it all on the court or pitch, but who are also comfortable leaving more of themselves out in the open, on YouTube or TikTok.
And then, as Fischer noted, they need to be comfortable enough to surrender control and let them get on with it.
What we’ve heard
“It requires us to put a lot of trust and faith into whatever these partners are sending us, whether it’s through a programmatic guarantee deal or a PMP deal.” — Ben Vaske, media supervisor of brand media at Collective Measures, discussing fading advertiser trust in the premium CTV market.
Numbers to know
64 million: Number of unique U.S. visitors to Discord during April 2026 — a size that’s considered enough to allow the platform to become part of mainstream brand reach
14: The number of EU member States that are supportive of tougher bans for a social media ban for teens
$40 billion: How much YouTube is worth to advertisers, despite its revenue growth decelerating
15.7 million: Total amount of World Cup-related hashtag posts on TikTok since the tournament began
— Krystal Scanlon
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