July 14, 2026 — 11:36amErling Haaland may have departed the World Cup without a trophy, but he didn’t return home empty-handed.Norway’s 2-1 quarter-final defeat by England on Sunday ended any chance of the Manchester City striker taking any silverware back to Norway, but he still left the tournament with a host of souvenirs.Erling Haaland gets off the plan in Oslo with a stuffed raccoon. Jan Langhaug/NTB Scanpix via APHaaland documented indulging in American culture as he bought a pair of cowboy boots and a handful of personalised Stetsons from a store in Dallas, but his latest souvenir is a stuffed raccoon carrying a bottle of alcohol.The 25-year-old was pictured carrying the souvenir as he and his team-mates landed back in Norway.Haaland posted on X that the raccoon had “followed me home”, having previously posted an image of it alongside two squirrels, who were drinking beers, on his Snapchat, calling them “geezers”.The striker may have purchased the raccoon from Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas, with the animal listed on the shop’s website for $750 ($1083 AUD).Before boarding the flight to Oslo, Haaland posted a selfie of himself wearing red sunglasses with the caption: “Goodbye, it has been emotional.”The striker caught the attention of the American public as he scored seven goals during Norway’s run to a first World Cup quarter-final, claiming after the defeat by England that he had experienced the “best six weeks of [his] life”.“It’s completely surreal,” Haaland said after the quarter-final. “It’s hard to talk about it now because I’m pretty down, but these 40-plus days have gone by so quickly. It’s a memory for life.“I hope people at home are happy with what we have done. We should be proud, but at the same time we should learn from matches like this.Norway’s Erling Haaland leaves the World Cup pitch after losing to England. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell“Quarter-finals in the World Cup are decided by small details, and we got that against us. England have experience from before, and they managed to tilt it in their favour.“It was really special to play today with such high humidity. It was tough. I’m completely done, to be honest.”Haaland was surprisingly substituted in extra time in the quarter-finals clash as Jude Bellingham scored England’s winner, but head coach Stale Solbakken said the striker was carrying a leg injury.“He obviously had a tremendous World Cup, we used his energy and power for game after game after game,” Solbakken said.“I think that he also got a dead leg in the second half, so that combined with fatigue. But he did everything he could; he was a little bit unlucky in a couple of situations, but scoring seven goals in five games for us. He had a fantastic World Cup.”Telegraph, LondonFrom our partners