Sports Nicknames - The Terminator, Striking Viking, Daemon

Erling Haaland is one of the most exciting players to watch in recent years. Aged only 20 (at the time of this writing), he has become a striker known all over the world thanks to his goal-scoring abilities. He's also picked up nicknames like "The Terminator" thanks to his physical attributes like height and speed.

Haaland was born in 2000 and started his footballing journey at the youth academy of Bryne in Norway. In 2016, he finally made his debut for the club before making a move to Molde (under former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) the next year.



At Molde in 2018, Haaland started his remarkable goalscoring form that he is renowned for today. He scored 16 goals in 30 appearances, including some in the Europa League. This form led to a transfer to Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. Here is where he became a common name in Europe, as he scored goal after goal in the Champions League for his new club. He became the only teenager to score in each of his first three CL apps, while only the 6th player to score in 5 consecutive ones.

Such goalscoring led to his current club, the famous yellow and black Borussia Dortmund. He made a fantastic debut, coming on as a substitute and scoring a hat trick in 23 minutes for a 5-3 win. As of the time of writing, he currently has 27 goals in 29 games for the German club.

It's fascinating that such a young player is so large (he's 1.94 m or 6'4") and yet has such speed (he's been clocked at having a sprint of 36 km/h). He also has fantastic positioning and finishing abilities, making him the complete package of a striker. If any player currently deserves the nickname "Terminator" it's certainly this Norwegian lad.

--

In the 2022 summer transfer window, the "Terminator" made a transfer to Manchester City FC on a five-year contract.

--

Due to the resemblance to one of the TV series characters, Manchester City teammates have started calling Erling Haaland "Daemon", after his strong start to his first English Premier League season.

--

Click for more Sports Nicknames