ERLING BRAUT HAALAND, THE NORWEGIAN FOOTBALLER

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Erling Haaland the Norwegian professional footballer, who was born on a day like today in 2000.

Erling Braut Haaland (né Håland; born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester City and the Norway national team.

Considered one of the best players in the world, he is known for his speed, strength, positioning, and finishing inside the box. In his debut Premier League season, Haaland broke the record for the most goals scored by a player in a single season, with 36.

Coming through the youth system, Haaland played for Norwegian sides Bryne and Molde, before relocating to Austria with Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019. His performances there earned him a move to Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where he won the DFB-Pokal in 2021.

In the summer of 2022, he transferred to Manchester City for a fee of €60 million (£51.2 million), and was instrumental in the club winning a continental treble in his debut campaign; his 52 goals across all competitions was the most ever for a Premier League player. Haaland was named the league's Young Player and Player of the Season, becoming the first player to win both awards in the same year.

Haaland has won several individual awards and broken various records during his career, including the 2020 Golden Boy award, while in 2021 he was named Bundesliga Player of the Season, in addition to his inclusion in the FIFA FIFPro World11 for 2021, 2022 and 2023. He has also broken multiple Premier League records, including most goals scored in a season, the quickest individual to score two, three, four and five hat-tricks, and the first in league history to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home games. 

In 2023, he won the Premier League Golden Boot, the European Golden Shoe and the Gerd Müller Trophy for his goalscoring success. In the same year, his performances led him to be named UEFA Men's Player of the Year, IFFHS World's Best Player and finish runner-up in the Ballon d'Or.

Haaland has represented Norway at various youth levels. In the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, he won the tournament's Golden Boot after scoring a record nine goals in a single match. He made his senior international debut in September 2019, and is currently the nation's second-highest all-time top goalscorer.

Haaland was born on 21 July 2000 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, as his father Alfie Haaland was playing for Leeds United in the Premier League at the time.

In 2004, at the age of three, he moved to Bryne, his parents' hometown in Norway.

Haaland started in the academy of his hometown club Bryne at the age of five.

On 1 February 2017, Molde announced the signing of 16-year-old Haaland.

On 19 August 2018, Austrian Bundesliga champions Red Bull Salzburg announced that Haaland would join the club on 1 January 2019, signing a five-year contract.

Despite being a reported target of Manchester United and Juventus, Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund confirmed the signing of Haaland on 29 December 2019, three days before the winter transfer window opened, for a fee reported to be in the region of €20 million, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.

On 10 May, Dortmund announced that Haaland would be leaving at the end of the season to sign for Premier League club Manchester City.

A prolific goalscorer and widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, Haaland has all the attributes of a complete centre-forward. He uses his sizeable frame to hold play up effectively and involve others. He has the pace and clever movement to run in behind, he can dribble and create, and he can finish with both feet and his head. He usually comes deep to collect the ball to help his team build play, often looking to spread the ball wide for a teammate, before turning and sprinting towards goal.

More informarion: Instagram-Erling Haaland

Every day provides a new opportunity to get even better.
Basically, it's a matter of mentality.

Erling Haaland

UDO LATTEK, THE GERMAN COACH WHO BROKE RECORDS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Udo Lattek, the German professional football player and coach, who was born on a day like today in 1935.

 

Udo Lattek (16 January 1935-31 January 2015) was a German professional football player and coach.

Lattek is one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game, having won 15 major titles, most famously with Bayern Munich. He also won major trophies with Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC Barcelona. In addition to these clubs, his managerial career saw him coach Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and 1. FC Köln before his retirement from the game.  

He is the only coach to have won all three major European club titles, and he is the only one to do so with three teams.

Lattek was born in Bosemb, East Prussia, Germany (now Boże, Poland). While Lattek was preparing for a career as a teacher, he played football with SSV Marienheide, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfR Wipperfürth.

In 1962, he joined VfL Osnabrück. He spent his first season at the club in the first division (the northern division of the Oberliga) and the remainder of his time in the second division, as the club did not qualify for the new Bundesliga at its inception 1963. He played primarily as a centre forward and became known for his heading ability. He scored 34 goals in 70 league matches between 1962 and 1965.

Early in 1965, Lattek was prematurely released from his playing contract to join the German football association DFB as a youth team coach alongside Dettmar Cramer, one of the assistants to head coach Helmut Schön. In this role he was also part of the coaching staff which led Germany into the final of the 1966 World Cup.

In March 1970, Lattek took over the reins of Bayern Munich as successor of the Croatian, Branko Zebec. He was recommended to the club by Franz Beckenbauer, however his appointment was controversial as he had never previously coached a club side. To a team already boasting Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Sepp Maier, Lattek added the young talents of Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeneß, ushering in a period of near dominance for the Bavarian club.

More information: UEFA

At the beginning of the 1975-76 season, Lattek succeeded Hennes Weisweiler at Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he stayed until 1979.

At the end of that season, Lattek quit Mönchengladbach and spent two undistinguished years with Borussia Dortmund.

In 1981, Lattek was appointed successor to Helenio Herrera at Spanish club FC Barcelona. He led the club to the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1982, defeating Standard Liège 2-1 in the final.

He is the only coach to lead three clubs to three different major European trophies. 

On the field Barcelona was led by Migueli, Alexanco, Rexach, Asensi, Quini, the German Bernd Schuster, and the Dane, Allan Simonsen, Lattek's star signing from his old club, Mönchengladbach.

In the second season Diego Maradona, then 22 years of age, was signed for a record transfer fee. However Barcelona did not win any domestic titles that year, and Lattek was replaced at the end of the 1982-83 season by the World Cup winning Argentine coach, César Luis Menotti, who it was hoped would bring out the best in Maradona.

Lattek got his next managerial appointment from his former player Uli Hoeneß, who was by then in charge as commercial manager with his old side, Bayern Munich.

After the heady days at Bayern, Lattek retired for a few years.

Lattek officially retired and took up a role as TV commentator and newspaper columnist with the national broadsheet Die Welt and the bi-weekly sports magazine kicker.

Lattek retired having won 14 major trophies. He still holds the record for having managed teams to the most Bundesliga titles, six with Bayern Munich and two with Borussia Mönchengladbach.

He lived in a nursing home in Cologne, where he was known for his continuous fondness of beer (all great coaches have enjoyed a drink).

In 2012, Lattek died on 31 January 2015.

More information: The Guardian

Udo Lattek was an outstanding football coach
and a great person.
He left big footprints as Barcelona coach.

Josep Guardiola