{"id":513773,"date":"2026-06-27T13:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/513773\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:39:13","slug":"erling-haalands-hairbands-the-latest-must-have-for-star-struck-chinese-football-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/513773\/","title":{"rendered":"Erling Haaland\u2019s hairbands: the latest must-have for star-struck Chinese football fans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Chinese football fans have recently been scouring the internet for an unlikely item: not trainers, autographs, jerseys, or even a football, but the small elastic hairbands used by striker Erling Haaland.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Dubbed by social media users on the mainland as the World Cup\u2019s \u201cmost meme-able man,\u201d Haaland has captivated a massive Chinese following both inside and outside football this summer through his skills, unwitting comical appeal, distinctive appearance, and character.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In the early hours of Saturday, the highly anticipated clash between France and Norway arrived, with fans eager to watch Kylian Mbappe and Haaland go head-to-head.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But waited in vain, with Haaland confined to the bench in a game Norway lost 4-1.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI set an alarm for 3am, only to see Ha Bao picking his nose on the sidelines,\u201d a Chinese fan said. Another posted later that morning: \u201cI waited for the sunrise but still didn\u2019t see Haaland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A side-by-side comparison created by social media users highlights the resemblance between Haaland and the anime character Majin Buu. Photo: Weibo\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5a84d0d7-b380-4563-8c54-64eab5db42d5_506c2c80.jpg\" title=\"A side-by-side comparison created by social media users highlights the resemblance between Haaland and the anime character Majin Buu. Photo: Weibo\"\/>A side-by-side comparison created by social media users highlights the resemblance between Haaland and the anime character Majin Buu. Photo: Weibo<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The Manchester City striker\u2019s popularity at this World Cup has extended far beyond his goals. In China, even non-football fans have heard of his reputation and tuned in to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese football fans have recently been scouring the internet for an unlikely item: not trainers, autographs, jerseys, or&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[235571,235572,1657,3388,85679,22095,2226,235570,235573,85,46,19684,192089,2617,8446,105,84815,5731],"class_list":["post-513773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alf-inge-haaland","tag-braut-haaland","tag-china","tag-chinese","tag-douyin","tag-erling-haaland","tag-france","tag-gry-marita-braut","tag-haaland","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-liu-chang","tag-manchester-city","tag-norway","tag-sports","tag-taobao","tag-weibo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}