Inside Erling Haaland's 6,000-calorie diet including ancestral dishes and 'superfood' he swears by
The battle of the Borussia Dortmund alumni is upon us: Norway’s Erling Haaland is set to square up against former club teammate and England golden boy Jude Bellingham in the FIFA Men’s World Cup quarter finals this Saturday (11 July).
The pair, who shared two formative years together at the German powerhouse, are set to take centre stage at the home of the Miami Dolphins as both look to stamp their ticket to the semi-finals and face either reigning champions Argentina or European rivals Switzerland in Atlanta.
25-year-old Haaland, who is starring at his first World Cup, is comfortably sitting on the adidas Golden Boot standings with seven goals to his name. Ahead of him are Lionel Messi (eight goals, one assist) and France’s Kylian Mbappe (eight goals, three assists).
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Ahead of the tournament, it was revealed that the Manchester City striker and his teammates, including Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard, had been treated to more than 1,200lbs of food being flown over from their native Norway, with items including salmon, trout, and cheese on the menu.
As per the football team’s head chef, this was to offer the players consistency and a slice of home, but fish and dairy isn’t all that Haaland eats.
Erling Haaland’s 6,000-calorie day
To fuel hours of training, reports claim that, like WWE star Drew McIntyre, the No.9 allegedly consumes around 6,000 calories every single day.
Breakfast is always the same, according to his viral YouTube video: fried eggs, sourdough, yoghurt, and coffee with maple syrup and raw milk.
“Coffee is a superfood in my eyes, if you do it right,” he stated. “Why? Depends on the quality, when you drink it… I’m into my coffee.”
The drop of maple syrup apparently helps to ‘protect the caffeine’, while raw milk is good for the star’s stomach, skin, bones and muscles.
For lunch, Haaland has been known to frequent an Italian sandwich shop in Manchester known as Ad Maiora.
The business has even named a £14.90 special after him, featuring Parma ham, burrata, homemade pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, pistachios, truffle oil, and Italian wild rocket.
However, if the Leeds-born icon has a lunchtime kick-off, he’s likely to eat his father’s famous lasagne.
“That’s true, yeah,” he confirmed, speaking about Alf-Inge ‘Alfie’ Haaland’s pasta dish. "I score goals from it, so we have to continue with it.”
The Viking also prioritises whole foods and tries to avoid processed things as much as possible.
“We’ve got so much processed things in this world right now. So I think that’s a thing to eat real and quality, of course,” he explained on a podcast.
"The better food you put in your body, the better you’re going to get things out of the food," he added, "and performance as well."
When Haaland is in charge of dinner for himself and his girlfriend, Isabel Haugseng Johansen, it’s often some kind of red meat picked up from local farmers, as per his YouTube vlog.
Ribeye, Tomahawk, and short rib are his favourite cuts, often served alongside potatoes and vegetables.
The latter is apparently a ‘big part’ of his life becuase ‘he’s from Norway’.
Experts weigh in on 6,000 calorie diet
Lauren Link, assistant athletics director for sports nutrition at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, claimed that it’s ‘quite common’ to see athletes like Haaland consuming 6,000 to 7,000 calories per day.
"Now, that higher end definitely is going to be either your offensive linemen, who maybe are trying to gain weight, your really high-expenditure people, your swimmers, who are swimming 4 or 5 hours a day, your soccer players, perhaps like [Haaland], who are running many, many miles in a game,” she told MedPage Today.
"So, yes, it is high," she said. "It's definitely not out of the realm of what we see, though, in the world of sports nutrition.”
Meanwhile, Giancarlo Carvalho, a physical therapist at Northwell Health STARS Rehabilitation in East Meadow, New York, claimed that the amount was probably to help him put on ‘lean muscle mass’.
“He likely needs about 3,200 to 3,500 calories per day ‘just to break even and not lose weight,” Carvalho said. “If you want to put on lean muscle mass, that takes a lot of energy ... 6,000 calories sounds about right.”
Haaland’s protein preference carries a warning
She praised him for eating whole foods, fruits, and vegetables, but cautioned against the amount of protein he eats in a day.
Link said that overdoing it can ‘have negative impacts for your wallet’ and your cardiovascular health.
According to researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, excessive protein consumption increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.
For a normal adult, 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal, or 60 to 90 grams of protein per day is adequate to support health, the experts reasoned.
Erling Haaland’s love for ‘ancestral food’
In the 2022 documentary, Haaland: The Big Decision, the Man City icon was seen carrying beef heart and liver.
"People say meat [is] unhealthy. Which meat?,” he said, explaining how the health benefits of eating popular fast-food items, like burgers, and meat from a ‘local cow’ differ.
Speaking about the so-called ancestral food, Link said: “It can be a very healthy part of a diet," Link said.
"I would always put an asterisk for people if they were seeking out organ meats in their diet to just make sure they're well-sourced.”
2026 World Cup results so far
Thursday, 9 July
Quarter-final - Match 97: France vs Morocco, 2-0
Tuesday 7 July
Round of 16 - Match 94: USA vs Belgium, 1-4
Round of 16 - Match 95: Argentina vs Egypt, 3-2
Round of 16 - Match 96: Switzerland vs Colombia, 0-0 (4-3 on penalties)
Monday 6 July
Round of 16 - Match 92: Mexico vs England, 2-3
Round of 16 - Match 93: Portugal vs Spain, 0-1
Sunday 5 July
Round of 16 - Match 91: Brazil vs Norway, 1-2
Saturday 4 July
Round of 32 - Match 87: Colombia vs Ghana, 1-0
Round of 16 - Match 90: Canada vs Morocco, 0-3
Round of 16 - Match 89: Paraguay vs France, 0-1
Friday 3 July
Round of 32 - Match 83: Portugal vs Croatia, 2-1
Round of 32 - Match 85: Switzerland vs Algeria, 2-0
Round of 32 - Match 88: Australia vs Egypt, 1-1 (2-4 on penalties)
Round of 32 - Match 86: Argentina vs Cabo Verde, 3-2
Thursday, 2 July
Round of 32 - Match 81: USA vs Bosnia & Herzegovnia, 2-0
Round of 32 - Match 84: Spain vs Austria, 3-0
Wednesday, 1 July
Round of 32 - Match 79: Mexico vs Ecuador, 2-0
Round of 32 - Match 80: England vs DR Congo, 2-1
Round of 32 - Match 82: Belgium vs Senegal, 3-2
Tuesday, 30 June
Round of 32 - Match 75: Netherlands vs Morocco, 1-1 (3-2)
Round of 32 - Match 78: Ivory Coast vs Norway, 2-1
Round of 32 - Match 77: France vs Sweden, 3-0
Monday, 29 June
Round of 32 - Match 76: Brazil vs Japan, 2-1
Round of 32 - Match 74: Germany vs Paraguay, 1-1 (4-3)
Sunday, 28 June
Group K: Colombia vs Portugal, 0-0
Group K: DR Congo vs Uzbekistan, 3-1
Group J: Algeria vs Austria, 3-3
Group J: Jordan vs Argentina, 3-1
Round of 32 - Match 73: South Africa vs Canada, 1-0
Saturday, 27 June
Group H: Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia, 0-0
Group H: Uruguay vs Spain, 1-0
Group G: New Zealand vs Belgium, 5-1
Group G: Egypt vs Iran, 1-1
Group L: Panama vs England, 2-0
Group L: Croatia vs Ghana, 2-1
Friday, 26 June
Group I: Senegal vs Iraq, 5-0
Group I: Norway vs France, 4-1
Group F: Tunisia vs Netherlands, 3-1
Group F: Japan vs Sweden, 1-1
Group D: Türkiye vs USA, 3-2
Group D: Paraguay vs Australia, 0-0
Thursday, 25 June
Group A: South Africa vs South Korea, 1-0
Group A: Mexico vs Czech Republic, 3-0
Group E: Curacao vs Ivory Coast, 2-0
Group E: Germany vs Ecuador, 2-1
Wednesday, 24 June
Group C: Brazil vs Scotland, 3-0
Group C: Morocco vs Haiti, 4-2
Group B: Qatar vs Bosnia-Herzegovnia, 3-1
Group B: Switzerland vs Canada, 2-1
Group L: Panama vs Croatia, 1-0
Group L: Colombia vs DR Congo, 1-0
Tuesday, 23 June
Group I: Norway vs Senegal, 3-2
Group J: Algeria vs Jordan, 2-1
Group K: Portugal vs Uzbekistan, 5-0
Group L: England vs Ghana, 0-0
Monday, 22 June
Group G: New Zealand vs Egypt, 1-3
Group J: Argentina vs Austria, 2-0
Group I: France vs Iraq, 3-0
Sunday, 21 June
Group E: Ecuador vs Curaçao, 0-0
Group F: Tunisia vs Japan, 0-4
Group G: Belgium vs Iran, 0-0
Group H: Spain vs Saudi Arabia, 4-0
Group H: Uruguay vs Cape Verde, 2-2
Saturday, 20 June
Group C: Brazil vs Haiti, 3-0
Group D: Turkey vs Paraguay, 0-1
Group E: Germany vs Ivory Coast, 2-1
Group F: Netherlands vs Sweden, 5-1
Friday, 19 June
Group A: Mexico vs South Korea, 1-0
Group C: Scotland vs Morocco, 0-1
Group D: USA vs Australia, 2-0
Thursday 18 June
Group L: Ghana vs Panama, 1-0
Group K: Uzbekistan vs Colombia, 1-3
Group A: Czech Republic vs South Africa, 1-1
Group B: Switzerland vs Bosnia & Herzegovina, 4-1
Group B: Canada vs Qatar, 6-0
Wednesday 17 June
Group K: Portugal vs DR Congo, 1-1
Group L: England vs Croatia, 4-2
Group J: Argentina vs Algeria, 3-0
Group J: Austria vs Jordan, 3-1
Tuesday 16 June
Group G: Iran vs New Zealand, 2-2
Group I: France vs Senegal, 3-1
Group I: Iraq vs Norway, 1-4
Monday, 15 June
Group E: Ivory Coast vs Ecuador, 1-0
Group F: Sweden vs Tunisia, 5-1
Sunday, 14 June
Group C: Haiti vs Scotland, 0-1
Group D: Australia vs Turkey, 2-0
Group E: Germany vs Curaçao, 7-1
Group F: Netherlands vs Japan, 2-2
Saturday, 13 June
Group D: USA vs Paraguay, 4-1
Group B: Qatar vs Switzerland, 1-1
Group C: Brazil vs Morocco, 1-1
Friday, 12 June
Group A: South Korea vs Czech Republic, 2-1
Group B: Canada vs Bosnia & Herzegovina, 1-1
Thursday, 11 June
Group A: Mexico vs South Africa, 2-0
Ella Scott