Latest news with #BryneFK
Pink Villa
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Who is Isabel Haugseng Johansen? All about Erling Haaland's girlfriend
Erling Haaland's powerhouse career has roots in Bryne, and so does his relationship. His girlfriend, Isabel Haugseng Johansen, has been his confidante since their youth academy days. A footballer herself, she balances training, a part-time fashion-store job, and a growing public profile. As Haaland broke records from Dortmund to Manchester City, Isabel has quietly built her own life: joining red-carpet events, traveling to support him abroad, and, most recently, stepping into motherhood alongside the Premier League star. Partners from the academy to the champions league Isabel and Erling first connected at Bryne FK, where both joined as youngsters. 'They've always known each other,' a source told The Sun, recounting how their friendship turned romantic during Haaland's Dortmund years. Isabel, now 21, makes occasional appearances at his matches and public outings. In late 2023, the couple attended the Ballon d'Or ceremony together, and earlier that year celebrated Haaland's 20 million euro Nike deal with a London shopping trip, as reported by the publication. Their relationship has endured through training schedules and long-distance travel. Into parenthood: A new chapter In October 2024, Haaland announced Isabel's pregnancy by tucking a match ball under his jersey after scoring for Norway. Months later, after a Leicester win, Pep Guardiola accidentally let it slip that the couple had become parents 'in the last few days,' stating that Haaland had become a father for the first time. Per the Daily Mail, their son arrived in December 2024, though his name remains private, the milestone has shifted their focus from stadium lights to sleepless nights and first smiles. Building a life beyond football Away from goals and galas, Isabel also pursues her own passions. She still plays locally in Bryne FK's women's senior team and keeps things low-key off social media. Yet she steps up when needed—visiting Haaland in Germany or England, and sharing the realities of balancing sports, work, and family. As Haaland continues to chase gold, Johansen remains the steady presence grounding the world's most feared striker.
Indian Express
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Erling Haaland, the little guy from humble Bryne in Norway who became a footballing colossus
A giant two-dimensional portrait of Erling Haaland bears down on the indoor football turf at Bryne FK, the local football club that takes its name from the humble town of Bryne — a place in southwest Norway with a population of around 12,500. They call this training turf the 'ice box' around these parts, an ironic nickname for a place that's become a safe refuge for their football teams when the weather gets too unrelenting in the winter months. The words, 'Me ska så fotballglede, dryka talent, og hausta mirakler' are emblazoned next to Haaland's portrait. We will sow the joy of football, nurture talent, and harvest miracles. Haaland last played for the club eight years back. But he is the town's — and the club's — most famous export. That explains why the star striker is everywhere in the town and makes his presence felt at the club's modest stadium too. At the club, jerseys of Haaland are ubiquitous: in the room that serves as a trophy room, there are seven jerseys on display, three of which are from Haaland's stints at Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund, and Manchester City. There is a figurine of Haaland too, but not in Bryne clothes, he's sporting the sky blue of Manchester City here too. Even in the club's merchandise shop, there is an entire row of Manchester City jerseys bearing Haaland's name being sold, an unusual look for an official merchandise shop of any football club. It's a club that prides itself in its heritage as a farmers' club: fans are allowed to roll into a separate enclosure on one side of the stadium on their tractors to watch games; their white jerseys for this season have a graphic of a farmer hard at work on the field; players are given eggs and milk for good performances. Haaland is the humble club's most in-demand produce. A harvested miracle, as the club motto calls it. In the centre of the city too there are plenty of reminders that Haaland once roamed the streets. At Hotel Jæren, there is a 'Haaland room', which has a picture of the footballer and a quote by him directly above the bed which reads: 'I wanted to score a hat-trick, so I did.' At a Chinese restaurant called When Hua House, a signed Haaland football shirt hangs on display informing customers that Haaland used to eat here, frequently. Then there's Pylsebuå te Håland (literally Håland's hot dog stand). Edge of Norway, the tourism department for the Stavanger region even runs an official 'Haaland tour' catering to thousands of tourists who flock to this town to see the humble beginnings of the striker. And if these were not enough reminders that the town was once home to one of the world's best footballers at the moment, you will find two building-sized murals of the town's favourite son near the town square — one by Anette Moi and the other one by Pøbel — which rival in size the portrait at the club's indoor training ground. These outsized murals are a tad ironic, considering how Haaland lives in the memories of those who knew him when he actually played for the club. 'He was really tiny at the time,' is the consensus. Everyone who knew Haaland during his stint at Bryne — which was his first professional contract at a football club — remembers his size. But somewhere down the line, as Haaland moved clubs, from Bryne to Molde in Norway to Red Bull Salzburg in Austria to Borussia Dortmund in Germany, and finally to Manchester City in England in 2022 for a whopping €60 million in 2022, Haaland grew in size. And stature. 'When he first played for us, he was one of the smallest guys. Not that big. Later, when he was 13-14 he was a skinny, long boy without muscles,' says Espen Undheim about a player who currently towers over other players at 6'4' in height. 'Because of his size, he couldn't use his physical skills while playing like he does now. He had to be clever to get in the right position to score goals. He was always prepared. Always in the right situation. He also developed the mentality. I would say that rather than his physical ability, it was his mentality that was his biggest strength when he was young. He was looking at older players. He was looking at stars from abroad.' When Espen — who played with Haaland's father Alf-Inge in his younger days and then coached Erling in his younger days from the age of eight to 15 — talks about mentality, he illustrates this by talking about how young Haaland would rage and thunder if he could not get into the right position to score. Somedays if he scored just one goal in training, he would be livid because he felt he could have racked up four or five at least. Espen says the footballer was genetically predisposed for his biggest attributes like athleticism and mindset by virtue of being born to a footballer father and distance-running mother. 'I recently saw a video of him training when he was young. You can see that he makes the same run, to get to the ball that he makes now at City. He starts in the right position,' beams Espen, who has been at the club as a coach for 25 years working with youth teams. Espen says that when he was young, Haaland would speak in great detail about how he should time his runs with pin-point precision. 'I have to start earlier. I have to be one meter to the left,' a young Haaland would mutter, says Espen. Another testament to his mentality comes from Sondre Norheim, who was Haaland's teammate in his first team days at Bryne. Norheim, who plays as a defender, says: 'He was a player that you could say had a lot of respect, but he also didn't really respect people. When he was in the locker room with older players, he was respectful and didn't go out of line. But when he stepped on the field, he would play how he wanted to play. Didn't matter if he played someone his age of 15 years older. He played the way he knew how to play, and didn't respect them because of who they were. Went in, tackled hard. Wanted to go past them. Wanted to score goals. No fear.' It was this mindset that made a skinny boy without muscles grow into a colossus on the football pitch. Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
Hindustan Times
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Erling Haaland — the miracle of Bryne
Stavanger : The indoor football turf at Bryne FK greets you with a massive picture pasted right behind the goal. Two retired school teachers point to the white text printed in bold in Norwegian. 'Me ska så fotballglede, dryka talent, og hausta mirakler.' The teachers take turns translating it to English, and each voice carries unmistakable heft. 'We will sow joy of football, nurture talent, harvest miracles.' Erling Haaland, the face screaming out of that picture, is the miracle of Bryne. They may not have seen it coming then, but they talk of visual evidence now. Espen Undheim, coach at Bryne FK for 25 years who worked with Haaland from age 8 to 15, brings up two videos saved in his home computer. The first is of a 10-year-old Haaland's run inside the box as 'one of the smallest boys'. Undheim gets flashes of that when he watches some of Haaland's runs now as one of world football's tallest figures and prolific goalscorers. The second is of Undheim speaking to Haaland after a training session that the kid thought did not go well because he could score just one goal. 'But you served your team players,' Undheim recalled the chat. 'He said: that's not good enough. I had to be scoring at least 4-5 goals.' Those two videos encapsulate Undheim's early impressions of a kid who, two decades on, has grown to become among the world's best strikers moving from Bryne to Molde, Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and now Manchester City. 'The clarity to get in the right position at that age, and the mentality to score goals... I haven't seen it since,' Undheim said. So hasn't anyone else in Bryne. About an hour's drive from Stavanger, this small Norwegian town is home to the club that shaped Haaland and, for a few days in the year when he visits his family, to the man itself. It is also an attractive pitstop for thousands of global tourists that visit Norway and for whom the two teachers turn guides. Edge of Norway, Stavanger region's tourism department, runs an official 'Haaland tour'. Haaland's own journey in Bryne began when his father, Alfie, returned to his hometown after a curtailed Premier League career. Undheim had played youth football with Alfie but Erling, who joined Bryne for their after-school programme, had something different. 'He was small then, but clever in finding ways to get in the right position to score goals,' Undheim said. His speed may have been down to genetics — Erling's mother was an athlete — but the mentality to hunt for goals had been moulded. 'He would remember runs that weren't good — that I have to start earlier, be one metre to the left, one meter below,' he said. 'Only special kids think like that when they are 9, 10, 11 years old.' This kid was special, but equally hardworking. Haaland would take notes during training, and often come in on weekends for solo sessions. The indoor arena that now houses his photo had turned home. 'He lived there,' said Undheim. 'Before training sessions, he would go alone for an hour. Sometimes, he got his friends and would shoot and dribble with them. He'd be here four hours on Saturday, and maybe Sunday. His mom would drop by with some food and water.' After playing for the club's age-group and second team, Haaland was bumped up to Bryne's first team at age 15. The teen was in the company of men, yet hardly intimidated. 'He was a player that you could say had a lot of respect, but also didn't really respect anyone,' said Sondre Norheim, Bryne FK's centre back who played with Haaland in the first team. 'When he was in the locker room with older players, he was respectful. But when he stepped on the field, even if someone was 15 years older, he would play how he wanted to and knew to play. Went in, tackled hard, wanted to go past them, wanted to score goals. No fear.' Haaland did not score a goal in his 16 appearances for Bryne, but the talent was on notice. Molde, then coached by Ole Gunnar Solskaer who knew Alfie, signed him at 16. And off went Haaland, growing at every step along the way from Molde to Salzburg to Dortmund to Manchester City where, in his debut season, he broke the record for most goals in a single season. 'The unreal ability to be at the right place and score goals, you can see he still has that. But now, he also has the power. Combining those two has put him in a place where he is unstoppable in front of the goal,' Norheim said. And unmissable each time he plays, at least in Bryne. Undheim, now the club's U-13 head coach, knows what every kid in his club has in mind. 'They are looking at him when City is playing. They are looking at him when the Norwegian team is playing. All of them have a national jersey, or a City jersey.' Haaland is the kids' icon. Haaland is the club's pride. Haaland is Bryne's miracle.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Soccer-Eggs, milk and tractors: Norway's Bryne embrace 'farmer's league' tag
By Tommy Lund (Reuters) -Bryne FK are back in the Norwegian top flight after 22 years and they are gaining even more popularity for sticking to their agricultural roots - be it tractors acting as stands or awarding milk and eggs to the player of the match. Best known as the home of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland's first club, Bryne has a population of around 13,000 people, surrounded by farmland and situated 30 minutes away from Stavanger, Norway's third-largest city. With a stadium that holds barely 5,000 fans, the club are fully embracing their heritage. "Our goal is to forge a farmers' identity and instil pride in both the club and the region," Bryne Marketing Manager Bjorn Hagerup Roeken told Reuters. "Our supporters' union has always celebrated our agricultural roots in their chants, so honouring our heritage holds deep significance for us." VIP tickets include a plush sofa hoisted up by tractors and grain silos, used to store winter feed for livestock, which have been rebuilt with platforms for VAR cameras. One side of the stadium is a large open square where supporters can drive in and park their tractors to watch the game. While most leagues hand the player of the match a small trophy, goalkeeper Jan De Boer received four trays of locally sourced eggs during their first home match of the season. Bryne also gave eggs to their opponents, Kristiansund BK, in their first away match. De Boer used his prize to cook a Dutch omelette for his Norwegian teammates and, in the spirit of the old-school barter system, the remaining eggs were given to a teammate who had lent him his car to pick up his girlfriend from the airport.
Reuters
08-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Eggs, milk and tractors: Norway's Bryne embrace 'farmer's league' tag
April 8 (Reuters) - Bryne FK are back in the Norwegian top flight after 22 years and they are gaining even more popularity for sticking to their agricultural roots - be it tractors acting as stands or awarding milk and eggs to the player of the match. Best known as the home of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland's first club, Bryne has a population of around 13,000 people, surrounded by farmland and situated 30 minutes away from Stavanger, Norway's third-largest city. With a stadium that holds barely 5,000 fans, the club are fully embracing their heritage. "Our goal is to forge a farmers' identity and instil pride in both the club and the region," Bryne Marketing Manager Bjorn Hagerup Roeken told Reuters. "Our supporters' union has always celebrated our agricultural roots in their chants, so honouring our heritage holds deep significance for us." VIP tickets include a plush sofa hoisted up by tractors and grain silos, used to store winter feed for livestock, which have been rebuilt with platforms for VAR cameras. One side of the stadium is a large open square where supporters can drive in and park their tractors to watch the game. While most leagues hand the player of the match a small trophy, goalkeeper Jan De Boer received four trays of locally sourced eggs during their first home match of the season. Bryne also gave eggs to their opponents, Kristiansund BK, in their first away match. De Boer used his prize to cook a Dutch omelette for his Norwegian teammates and, in the spirit of the old-school barter system, the remaining eggs were given to a teammate who had lent him his car to pick up his girlfriend from the airport.
