City’s Haaland to cover travel costs for fans of former club

Norwegian and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will pay supporters of his former club Bryne FK to attend the team’s playoff match on Saturday.

Haaland’s boyhood club Bryne reached the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and has a chance of promotion to the Norwegian Eliteserien.

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Haaland, 23, will cover train travel costs for around 200 fans, or around NOK 175,000 ($16,000).

“Times are tough financially for people, and that makes it harder for people to prioritize a trip like this here,” Bryne marketing director Bjorn Hagerud Roken told TV 2.

“So it gave more fans the opportunity to travel.”

Haaland began his career in the youth ranks at Bryne before joining the first team in 2016. The following year, he moved to high-flying side Molde before quickly progressing to the Champions League. Austria from RB Salzburg, then Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga before finally joining Manchester City in 2022.

Haaland was Norway’s top scorer in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, but that was not enough to secure his side’s qualification for next year’s tournament in Germany.