Soccer Star Erling Haaland Sues Norwegian Air Over a Photoshopped Plane With His Ponytail

Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland is suing Norwegian Air Shuttle over a social media post showing one of the airline’s planes edited to sport a blonde ponytail. Even if you’re not big on soccer, you know whose recognizable hairstyle that represents. In fact, you may have even seen the ad on socials!

The image ran during the 2026 World Cup with the caption “We’ve never looked more Norwegian,” and Haaland’s side says it used his likeness to sell plane tickets without permission. No face, no name, no jersey. Just a ponytail on a Boeing. And apparently, that might be enough for a lawsuit.

As Haaland’s lawyer, Thomas Hagen, told AFP, “the case concerns Norwegian’s unlawful use of Haaland’s distinctive signs in its promotion of plane tickets during the football World Cup.”

The exact details of the claim haven’t been made public, and neither has any amount of damages. However, per Courthouse News, Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang reported that the airline had removed the photomontage in question from its social media. Haaland wore that hairstyle for years, right up until he recently cut his hair short.

As I mentioned, even if you’re not a soccer fan, you’ve ran into Haaland’s friendly face all over socials. He was one of the faces of Norway’s World Cup run this summer, helping the team reach the quarterfinals in its first appearance at the tournament since 1998.

Norwegian Air Calls It “Regrettable”

The airline confirmed it received a writ which they “find hard to understand.”

“Like almost all of Norway, we supported the national team this summer, through a few spontaneous posts inspired by trends on social media,” spokeswoman Catharina Solli told AFP. It is regrettable that this support has been met with legal action, but we hope to have a reasonable dialogue so that we can continue, in the future as well, to support our common sport heroes.

Interestingly enough, I saw the Norwegian Air’s post on Instagram as it was massively reposted among my friends who actually watch football. I thought it was cute, silly, supportive, and completely harmless. I never thought it would be a reason for a lawsuit.

This case touches on something anyone who edits images for brands should keep an eye on. Using a celebrity’s likeness in advertising usually requires explicit permission, and this lawsuit tests how far “likeness” stretches. If a hairstyle on an aircraft is distinctive enough to point to one specific person, a lot of “inspired by” marketing visuals suddenly look a bit riskier.

According to Verdens Gang, the case is set for a hearing at Oslo District Court on October 9. It got me interested so I’ll keep an eye out and keep you posted.

[via PetaPixel; Image credits: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

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