Alfie Haaland
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Alfie Haaland | ||
Birth name | Alf-Inge Rasdal Håland | ||
Date of birth | 23 November 1972 | ||
Place of birth | Stavanger, Norway | ||
Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Position(s) | Right-back, midfielder | ||
Youth career | |||
1979–1989 | Bryne FK | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1989–1993 | Bryne FK | ||
1993–1997 | Nottingham Forest | 75 | (7) |
1997–2000 | Leeds United | 74 | (8) |
2000–2003 | Manchester City | 38 | (3) |
2011 | Bryne FK 3 | 1 | (0) |
2012–2013 | Rosseland BK | 6 | (1) |
Total | 194 | (19) | |
National team | |||
1990 | Norway U17 | 1 | (0) |
1991–1993 | Norway U21 | 29 | (3) |
1994–2001 | Norway | 34 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Alfie Haaland (born Alf-Inge Rasdal Håland; 23 November 1972) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a right-back or midfielder.
Haaland notably played in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City, and winning 34 caps for Norway. He also had spells in his home country with Bryne FK and Rosseland BK. His career initially ended due to a left knee injury, although he also suffered an injury to his other leg that was caused by an infamous tackle by Manchester United captain Roy Keane; the pair had a history of clashes on the field.
Club career
Early life and career
Haaland was born in Stavanger and raised in nearby Bryne. He joined the youth team of his hometown club Bryne FK in 1979 and made his first-team debut in 1989 aged 17. He established himself in the team the following year, after signing his first professional contract with Bryne.
Nottingham Forest
Haaland moved to England joining First Division club Nottingham Forest after a protracted transfer. Attempts to sign Haaland started with Brian Clough in October 1992 but was completed under the management of Frank Clark in December 1993. He made his debut for Forest against Leicester City.[citation needed]
Leeds United
In July 1997, Haaland joined Leeds United under George Graham. He made his Leeds debut against Arsenal on 9 August. In September, when Manchester United were losing 1–0 to Haaland's Leeds United at Elland Road, Roy Keane injured his anterior cruciate ligament running for the ball with Haaland. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Haaland, unaware of the seriousness of the injury, stood over him and criticised Keane, suggesting that he was merely feigning injury to try to gain a penalty. Haaland was booked as Keane was stretchered off the field and was out of action for nearly a year afterwards. On 26 December 1997, Haaland scored a goal in a 3–1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, a feat later achieved by his son, Erling Haaland, on 2 October 2019 while playing for Red Bull Salzburg.
He was part of the Leeds team which reached the UEFA Cup semi-final during the 1999–2000 season and which also qualified for the Champions League. Haaland was mainly used as a utility player, playing in both midfield and defence under David O'Leary.[citation needed]
Manchester City
In 2000, Haaland left Leeds to join Manchester City for a fee of £2.5 million. In April 2001, during a match against Manchester United, Roy Keane tackled Haaland, kicking him high on his right knee, for which he was immediately sent off. Of the incident, Haaland said: "I'm only glad my leg was off the ground, otherwise he would have done me a lot of damage". Keane was subsequently fined £5,000 and received a three-match ban. In his autobiography, published a year later, Keane stated that the tackle was a pre-meditated, deliberate act of vengeance against Haaland for the on-field criticism he received from him three and a half years previously. After this revelation, Keane found himself subject to an FA inquiry. He claimed inaccurate paraphrasing by his ghostwriter, but received an additional five-game ban and a £150,000 fine for bringing the sport into disrepute. Following the tackle, Haaland had initially claimed Keane would not dare to look him in the eye, and he once said: "I really dislike (Manchester) United and I can't stand their players".
At the time of Keane's tackle, Haaland's left knee was already giving him sufficient problems for him to have to play with strapping around it. After the tackle, Haaland finished the match and played a midweek friendly for Norway coming off at half-time, and the next league game, coming off in the 68th minute. That summer, he underwent surgery on his left knee, but only managed a further four substitute appearances the following season, and finally retired in July 2003 after failing to recover full fitness. Haaland was originally contracted with Manchester City until the end of the 2004–05 season, but in his contract it was stated that City could terminate the contract if medical conditions indicated that he could not play first-team football again, and decided to use this option.
Following the release of Keane's autobiography in 2002, Haaland and Manchester City stated that they were considering taking legal action against Keane. However, it emerged that Haaland had stated on his personal website that he had been playing with the injury to his left knee a few months, that his left leg did not receive a knock in the game (Keane kicked his right thigh), and that Keane did not cause his long term injury. Legal action was dropped in February 2003 after the club reviewed the medical advice.
Rosseland BK
Haaland came out of retirement after eight years, to play for the Bryne-based club Rosseland BK in the Norwegian Third Division in August 2011. He retired again in 2013.[citation needed]
International career
Haaland made his debut for Norway in friendly match against Costa Rica in January 1994. He was later named in Norway's squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup where he played the matches against Mexico and Italy. Haaland was capped a total of 34 times, with his last international appearance against Bulgaria in April 2001. Haaland is – along with Hallvar Thoresen, Dan Eggen, Espen Baardsen, Hans Herman Henriksen and Joshua King – among the few players to have played for the Norwegian national team without ever playing in the domestic top division.
Personal life
His son, Erling Haaland, is also a professional footballer and currently plays for Premier League club Manchester City. His nephew, Albert Tjåland, plays as a striker for Bryne.
Career statistics
Club
Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Nottingham Forest | 1993–94 | First Division | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | |
1994–95 | Premier League | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 22 | 1 | ||
1995–96 | Premier League | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 0 | |
1996–97 | Premier League | 35 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 41 | 6 | ||
Total | 75 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 90 | 7 | ||
Leeds United | 1997–98 | Premier League | 32 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 37 | 7 | |
1998–99 | Premier League | 29 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 36 | 1 | |
1999–2000 | Premier League | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
Total | 74 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 92 | 8 | ||
Manchester City | 2000–01 | Premier League | 35 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 43 | 3 | |
2001–02 | First Division | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | ||
2002–03 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 38 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 47 | 3 | |||
Bryne FK 3 | 2011 | Norwegian Fifth Division | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||
Rosseland | 2012 | Norwegian Fourth Division | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 1 | ||
2013 | Norwegian Fourth Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||
Total | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 9 | 1 | ||||
Career total | 194 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 239 | 19 |
- ^ Includes FA Cup, Norwegian Football Cup
- ^ Includes Football League Cup
- ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Cup
International
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Norway | 1994 | 5 | 0 |
1995 | 8 | 0 | |
1996 | 7 | 0 | |
1997 | 5 | 0 | |
1998 | 6 | 0 | |
1999 | 2 | 0 | |
2001 | 1 | 0 | |
Total | 34 | 0 |
- 1972 births
- Living people
- People from Bryne
- Sportspeople from Stavanger
- Norwegian footballers
- Association football defenders
- Association football midfielders
- Bryne FK players
- Nottingham Forest F.C. players
- Leeds United F.C. players
- Manchester City F.C. players
- English Football League players
- Premier League players
- Norwegian Fourth Division players
- Norway youth international footballers
- Norway under-21 international footballers
- Norway international footballers
- 1994 FIFA World Cup players
- Norwegian expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England