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I tried eating Erling Haaland’s World Cup ‘Viking diet’ for a day

▶ Watch Video: Breaking down Erling Haaland’s 6,000-calorie daily Viking-like diet to stay World Cup ready

Erling Haaland has become one of the biggest stars in world soccer. The Norway star currently making his mark on the World Cup is known for an extraordinary goal-scoring ability, imposing 6-foot-5 frame, silly social media personality — and a seemingly endless appetite.

The Manchester City striker has been reported to consume around 6,000 calories every day during periods of intense training and competition. Much of that comes from simple, protein-rich meals sourced from some of his favorite farms, delis and butchers around Manchester.

I decided to find out what eating like a Viking is really like.

Our first stop was breakfast.

The order was straightforward but substantial: Four scrambled eggs, two thick slices of sourdough toast, a large bowl of Greek yogurt and berries and a black coffee with a splash of maple syrup.

It was plenty filling, but Haaland has also spoken about drinking raw milk, so I washed down the already substantial breakfast with a bottle of the rich, creamy beverage. 

By lunchtime, I was already questioning my life choices. But the mission was just beginning.  

We headed to Haaland’s favorite Italian deli, Ad Maiora, where they’ve even named a sandwich after him. 

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The Haaland sandwich at Ad Maiora. 

Leigh Kiniry

“The Haaland” has Parma ham, burrata, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and truffle oil, all stuffed into a fresh flatbread that’s about a foot long.

The struggle was real.

But dinner was still looming, and causing the most anxiety. Haaland loves a large steak. 

We visited the local butcher in Cheshire, an area outside Manchester where a number of famous footballers live. At The Cheshire Smokehouse, Wayne the butcher told us Haaland stops by to purchase many of his steaks, as well as venison, because it’s naturally lean and lower in cholesterol.

But I wasn’t there to take the sensible option. If it was going to be the full Haaland experience, it had to be a giant steak.

That evening, we headed to the Hawksmoor steakhouse, where the huge slabs of beef are seared over charcoal. We were told Haaland regularly orders bone marrow as an accompaniment, so that’s how I kicked off the meal.

On an already full stomach, with no bread or wine to ease its path, the marrow almost proved to be my breaking point.

Then the steak arrived.

A beautifully charred, perfectly medium-rare porterhouse weighing an astonishing 2.6 pounds.

I gave it everything I had. But eventually, I had to admit defeat.

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A steak at Hawksmoor steakhouse. 

Leigh Kiniry

Eating like one of the world’s best soccer players is a lot harder than it looks. But then, I’m not a 25-year old professional athlete burning thousands of calories a day. 

I’m a 30-something mom of three who tried to keep up with one, for just 24 hours.

The experience brought a new appreciation for the extraordinary physical demands on elite athletes. All that meat and no wine?!

Haaland has captivated fans around the world with his goals, his personality and his larger-than-life presence. Norway’s success thus far in the World Cup has shown a global audience that, whether it’s scoring goals or clearing dinner plates, few people can keep up with “The Striking Viking.”

Conspiracies around Nolan Wells’ death have led to threats against those he was with that day, attorneys say

By CNN
(CNN) — On July 4, a group of friends boarded boats and set out from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to celebrate the holiday on nearby Horn Island.It was a trip many had been looking forward to all year, their attorneys would later tell CNN. But it would end in tragedy after Nolan Wells never made it home.In the weeks since Wells’ body was discovered along the shoreline of the barrier island, questions around his manner of death have fueled conjecture and fractured a once tight-knit community.Attorneys representing Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour say despite cooperating with investigators, their clients have effectively become pariahs in their hometown and have been subjected to death threats and defamation.And, they said, the allegations they were somehow involved in their friend’s death have made it even harder as they try to find ways to grieve the young man they’ve known since middle school.“The biggest tragedy of this entire thing is that Nolan unfortunately lost his life and nobody knows definitively what happened,” their attorney, Tyler Cox, said, adding all three of his clients have been questioned by authorities in the case.“These guys haven’t been able to mourn the loss of their friend and brother Nolan Wells,” Cox told CNN Wednesday.“They left the island at 4:30 pm … So, we don’t know what happened to Nolan after 4:30,” he said. “We want to know just as much as anybody.”A tow call ignites controversyCox estimates there were hundreds of boats and thousands of people on the island that day. Wells and his friends arrived just before 11 am, he said.The last time Warren Hudson saw Wells was around 3 pm, his attorneys say.“They had this little comedic moment because at the time Nolan was kind of holding and cradling a girl that he had met on the island,” Cox said. “You know him being one of Nolan’s best friends, Warren kind of gave him kind of a chuckle, like, ‘Oh, I see you with this girl.’ You know, ‘Hope everything goes well for you.’”But an hour later, the attorneys told CNN, the group began noticing problems with the bilge pump on one of their boats, the Triton. The water in the hull was rising so quickly it almost covered the battery, and Cox said his clients began to panic and shout to their friends it was time to leave.What happened next has become the subject of conspiracy and scrutiny.Cox said there has been an assumption Wells was left “on this deserted, remote island with no access to a phone or no access to anyone else to help him.”But he was far from alone, the attorney said – and Wells was not the only person who didn’t make the return trip with the group of friends.“That’s just how it is here. You can always find another ride off the island, and again, there were 2,000 other people there, so he wasn’t left alone by any means,” Cox said.He also acknowledged many people find it suspicious his clients were in possession of Wells’ phone, but, he said, it’s common practice to drop anchor 50 feet offshore and swim to the island.“I don’t know anything more corrosive to a cell phone than salt water,” he said. “When they left, not only was Nolan’s phone on the boat, so was five other people’s … and everyone collected the phones after” they got back.Everyone, of course, except for Nolan. A Wells family friend later tracked the device to his friend’s home, and Elmore Wonsley, Nolan’s father, has said he arrived later in the night to collect his son’s car and keys.Edward Paltzik, a defamation attorney who also represents the three men, said in recent days edited audio of the emergency tow call his clients made that day has turned a tragic case into a circus.“The Sea Tow call — and the hundreds of versions of it now circulating — is a red herring. It’s distracting people from what matters,” Paltzik said.At the end of the day, he added, any audio portraying his clients in a false light is defamatory, and they plan to pursue all legal claims.A video purporting to contain audio of the Triton’s call has gone viral after the creator who posted it claimed to have cleaned up the background noise and allegedly revealed incriminating statements.CNN has obtained and reviewed the same audio but found it to be inconclusive.“We’re winnowing it down to the worst of the worst – the worst of the worst offenders who have said the worst things, who have the largest platforms, who have caused the most damage,” Paltzik said. “It’s going to be a lengthy process.”A tragedy compounded by grief and threatsIn the weeks since the case became national news, the attorneys say their clients have been subjected to a barrage of threats – both at home and online.“Some of them can’t even go back to school because of the threats. Their families have had threats. Some of them can’t even go home,” Cox said.Two of the men were accosted at a local restaurant, and they’ve also been refused service in town, Cox said. Some of the alleged threats were deemed serious enough three people were charged with crimes, The Associated Press reported. The suspects — who allegedly threatened witnesses and officials connected to the investigation — do not appear to have any connection to the families in Mississippi.But Cox stressed his clients only have two feelings toward Nolan Wells’ family: Empathy and sympathy.“If there’s anybody out there that is targeting or harassing the Wells/Wonsley family, that needs to stop immediately and they need to apologize for doing it,” Paltzik said.“I want to be clear. It’s not them versus us. Never has been, and I’ll tell you, never will be.”Cox rejected any claims his clients were somehow motivated to treat Wells differently because of his race.“All the old people in Mississippi may have thought something a long time ago, but not these young men,” he said. “I think they completely regret even going out to the island that day.”But, despite all the rumors and conspiracies, Paltzik said two things can be true:“Nolan’s death is an incomprehensible tragedy – incomprehensible,” he said. “But for us to be where we are today – where we have other folks receiving death threats, other folks receiving hate, and folks being defamed – I think that magnifies the tragedy.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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