Hat-Trick Hero Haaland Fires Norway to Nations League Promotion

Football fans always want to see the best players strutting their stuff on the biggest stages possible. Manchester City superstar, Erling Haaland, is doing all he can to ensure his nation, Norway, play at the highest level. He scored a hat-trick in his side’s 5-0 hammering of Kazakhstan on Sunday, 17th November, which ensured Norway gained promotion to League A of the competition.

Aside from his nation’s progression to the top tier of European football, Haaland’s trio of goals means he has stretched his lead as Norway’s record scorer. Remarkably, the former Borussia Dortmund man has now scored 38 goals for his country in just 39 appearances… that’s a goal every 1.03 games or – if you prefer – 0.97 goals per match!

The question is, how many international goals could this generational talent score? If he stays relatively injury-free, the sky could be the limit. Later, we’ll take a look at how he compares to some of the greatest international goalscorers in the history of the beautiful game. First, we’ll glance back at Norway’s Nations League campaign.

How Norway Conquered League B Group 3 of the Nations League 2024/25

Norway were drawn in a relatively tough League B group alongside Austria, Slovenia and Kazakhstan. Okay, the latter of those were not predicted to cause Ståle Solbakken’s side many problems. But Slovenia and, in particular, Austria are very capable outfits. Neither of those teams can call upon the services of Haaland, of course!

Despite Kazakhstan being relatively easy opponents on paper, Norway could only manage a draw against them in their Nations League opener in September. They also failed to muster a goal in a rather drab 0-0 stalemate. It wasn’t the end of the world, however, as main group rivals Austria could only draw on the road against Slovenia. Norway made up for their dropped points three days later, however, as goals from Felix Horn Myhre and Haaland earned the Lions a 2-1 home victory over Austria.

Solbakken’s men followed up in October with a convincing 3-0 home triumph over Slovenia, Haaland bagging a brace on this occasion. Things didn’t go to plan in the next game, however. Austria earned revenge for their earlier defeat by inflicting a humbling 5-1 hammering of Norway in Linz.

The following month, Norway once again put Slovenia to the sword, winning 4-1 in Ljubljana, Haaland scoring one goal. On the final matchday, Norway – and Haaland in particular – turned on the style as they hammered Kazakhstan 5-0. Crucially, Austria could manage only a 1-1 home draw against Slovenia. That meant Norway ended the group at the top on 13 points with Austria trailing in second, two points adrift.

How Does Haaland Compare to the Highest-Scoring International Footballers?

At the time of writing, there are more than 80 players in the history of international football who have scored more than 50 goals. As such, Haaland is a little way off making the list. We wouldn’t be surprised if he surpassed the 50-goal barrier within the next year or so. The real question is: will he make it to the 100-goal mark and join the three greatest international goalscorers in history: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and … Ali Daei?

With the true greats of the game Ronaldo and Messi still plying their trade on the international scene, both might well add to their goal tallies. Former Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin striker Ali Daei, meanwhile, hung up his boots in 2006 but was the world’s leading international goalscorer for a while.

He averaged more than a goal per game for Iran in three years: 1996 (22 goals in 18 appearances), 2000 (19 goals in 18 appearances), and 2004 (17 goals in 16 appearances). He’ll certainly go down as one of the legends of international football, even if he played for a nation who have never made it past the group stage at the World Cup.

How Does Haaland’s Goals Per Game Statistic Compare?

With a goals-per-game rate of 0.97, Haaland isn’t far off the top international goalscorers when it comes to that statistic. But as things stand (if he was included among those who’ve scored more than 50 international goals), he’d only be ranked sixth. Here are the five men who scored 50-plus international goals at a rate of near to or over a goal a game.

Four men managed better than a goal per game on average, and the fifth was agonisingly close to achieving that statistical milestone.

Vivian Woodward

Vivian Woodward is a true England legend, even if he’s not as familiar as some of the Three Lions’ goalscorers down the decades. Woodward played for England and England Amateurs from 1903 to 1914. During this time, he also captained Great Britain to Olympic gold medals in 1908 in London and 1912 in Stockholm.

Poul Nielsen

Poul Nielsen’s rate of 1.37 goals per game was also highly impressive. He played for Denmark between 1910 and 1925. He had a fantastic time of things in 1913 when he scored a whopping total of 11 goals in just three games for his country!

Sándor Kocsis

Sándor Kocsis Poul Nielsen played in the great “Mighty Magyars” Hungary side of the 1950s that included Ferenc Puskás, Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik and Nándor Hidegkuti. Puskás wasn’t far off scoring a goal a game for Hungary either as he notched 84 goals in 85 games. But he then chose to play for Spain and failed to score in four appearances, thus sullying his international goalscoring record slightly.

Gerd Müller

Gerd Müller is a legend of German football who helped West Germany win the 1972 Euros and the 1974 World Cup. He was the top scorer at the 1972 Euros (with four goals) and also the 1970 World Cup (with a very impressive total of 10 goals).

Kunishige Kamamoto

Finally, Kunishige Kamamoto was Japan’s answer to Pele and his 75 goals in 76 games for his nation in the 1960s and 70s brought him plenty of fame and acclaim. He was the top scorer at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and his best year on the international front came in 1972 when he scored 15 goals in just eight games.