Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland’s form since arriving in England is causing confusion online due to him sharing a similar name to a coastal resort in Sweden
Erling Haaland is killing off tourism at a Swedish coastal resort (Image: Getty Images)
Football star Erling Haaland is killing off tourism in a coastal resort that shares a similar name.
The county of Halland in Sweden has reported a massive drop in visitors because Google searches for it have been dominated by misspellings of the Manchester City striker’s name. In an open letter to journalists and fans, Visit Halland boss Jimmy Sandberg said: “We are Halland. He is Haaland. The popularity of the football phenomenon is completely suffocating our online presence.
“To our despair, we now see that all of our efforts promoting Halland are rapidly being wiped away.
“If nothing is done, we fear our dear region is at risk of becoming a forgotten Atlantis, a place only known in stories and ancient scriptures.”
Speaking to BBC News, Sandberg added: “When you write in Halland, looking for the beautiful region where we live in Sweden, you get Haaland all over the place.
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“Since Haaland arrived at Manchester City and scored all those goals, we have been overwhelmed by his presence in our hashtags and in search engines.”
The county of Halland has seen a drop in visitors since Erling Haaland’s arrival in England
Despite Sandberg’s efforts to rid any confusion over the names, the pair could soon be mixed up even more after he extended an invitation to Haaland to visit the region.
“We’d love him to come here,” admitted Sandberg. “A lot of Norwegians do come here every year, so he would feel right at home. See you next summer in Halland, Haaland?”
The 22-year-old Norwegian arrived in the Premier League in the summer, signing a five-year deal with City after completing a £54million move from Borussia Dortmund.
He has already scored 22 goals in just 16 matches this season, with 17 of those strikes coming in the league to give him a seven goal cushion in the race for the golden boot.
Visit Halland have called on journalists and fans to spell Erling Haaland’s name correctly
His statistics are made even more impressive considering Haaland has missed City’s last two matches against Leicester City and Sevilla with a bruised foot.
The former Red Bull Salzburg forward won the Premier League player of the month award back in August and has been nominated once again for the month of October, when he scored six goals and provided two assists in four matches.
