Manchester City and Norway striker Erling Haaland recently changed his hairstyle to a much shorter, buzz-type cut after he had made quite the reputation for his iconic, Viking-Esque longer, ponytail look that he's sported for the past couple of years.
The style bore a resemblance to the hairstyle Zlatan Ibrahimovic sported for the majority of his playing career, but was only a small part of what makes Erling Haaland, Erling Haaland.
At the start of the Premier League season, Haaland made the decision to chop most of his hair off, but it hasn't thwarted his ability in front of goal.
So far this season for Manchester City, The Norwegian striker has tallied seven goals from as many matches across all competitions and is currently the Premier League leading goalscorer with five of his goals having come in the league.
Off the pitch, there's been plenty of drama swirling around Manchester City's ownership being found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges that were filed against them by an independent Premier League commission that have to do with breaching financial rules. It's still unclear what, exactly, the club's punishment will be if their appeal is unsuccessful.
In addition to the charges, Haaland himself is also in a legal battle off the pitch.
Why Is Erling Haaland Suing Norwegian Air?
According to One Mile at A Time, the City and Norway striker has sued the airline company Norwegian Air Shuttle for an advert they ran during the World Cup this past summer.
In the ad that Haaland and his team consider an unlawful use of his likeness, Norwegian Air Shuttle shared an image of an aircraft with a blonde ponytail superimposed onto it, referencing the striker's former hairstyle.
Haaland's legal team argues that the airline used his distinctive characteristics without permission, while Norwegian disputes the basis of the lawsuit and says the posts were spontaneous support for the national team.
While Norwegian presented the post as a humorous show of support for the national team, Haaland's legal team argues that the campaign crossed the line into unauthorised commercial use of his distinctive characteristics.
The parties are scheduled for a digital planning meeting at Oslo District Court on October 9, so the striker could wind up knowing what's going to come of the lawsuit prior to City's massive clash agasint Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
What Are Haaland and Norwegian Air Saying About the Lawsuit?
Speaking on the lawsuit, Haaland's lawyer said “the case concerns Norwegian’s unlawful use of Haaland’s distinctive signs in its promotion of plane tickets during the football World Cup.”
It's a relatively straightforward claim, though revenue from image likeness has been the subject of controversy and legal battles before, similar to previous legal disputes involving footballers' image rights, including Cristiano Ronaldo's tax case in Spain.
Norwegian Air Shuttle, meanwhile, said that “like almost all of Norway, we supported the national team this summer, through a few spontaneous posts inspired by trends on social media," as it's clear they did not feel they were breaching any laws by doing so.
At the very least, it was an attempt to show support for a national team that exceeded expectations by reaching the World Cup quarter-finals.
