Malaysian content creator cracks code on how to be Erling Haaland’s ‘friend’

The 2026 World Cup may have ended almost a week ago, but Haaland fever is still raging as the Norwegian star continues to go viral for being “chronically online”.

Fans have noticed Erling Haaland leaving comments on a variety of social media posts after Norway were knocked out in the quarter-finals, including one wondering if he wants tiramisu (”Yes yes yes or yes,” replied Haaland).

On Haaland’s 26th birthday on July 21, a Malaysian content creator appeared to have found the winning formula to becoming his friend – and getting a reaction from him.

Lim Siow Wei uploaded a video on Instagram titled How to Become Haaland’s Friend, which has since garnered over 3.4 million views and 254,000 likes.

To become the Manchester City forward’s buddy, she suggests in the video, one should first go fishing and catch 10 fishes with their left hand to get bigger biceps. After that, they should open a pasta stall and use those biceps to repeatedly toss the pasta as high as possible.

The “flying” pasta should catch Haaland’s attention, prompting him to visit the stall and ask them to style his hair with the pasta “because that’s the secret to his shiny hair”.

“He will look into the mirror and become happy, and now you’ll be good friends,” she said.

Lim, who has over 759,000 Instagram followers, had uploaded a similar video on how to meet Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo on July 6, but to no avail.

She frequently posts similar “instructive” and comedic videos, which usually have around 100,000 views and around 5,000 likes. One of her most popular videos, titled Why You Should Not Shower, has over 22 million views.

The Haaland video gained the attention of the player himself, who on the same day commented with emojis of a flexed bicep and a smiling face with a drop of sweat on one side of the forehead.

Haaland’s reaction alone has garnered almost 175,000 reactions so far.

Many netizens have since been tagging him in the comments or marvelling at the fact that he had responded to the video.

One Instagram user asked: “@erling would you be my friend if I did this?”

Another user commented: “He is everywhere.”

Haaland became an internet sensation even before the World Cup began on June 11, with many memes of him flooding Chinese social media before spreading to other mainstream platforms like X, Instagram and TikTok during the tournament.

He also endeared himself to fans, reposting or commenting on memes of himself – all while having a stellar World Cup debut with seven goals in five matches.

Now, the already popular Haaland may find himself having 759,000 more friends.

One of Lim’s followers has since helpfully suggested who else she could befriend.

“Next Messi,” said the Instagram user, referring to Argentinian star Lionel Messi.