Haaland takes Norwegian Air Shuttle to court over image use

Erling Haaland has taken Norwegian Air Shuttle to court, accusing the airline of using distinctive features associated with him in a promotional campaign without permission. The dispute puts the Manchester City forward’s image rights at the centre of a case that will be examined by a Norwegian court.

The campaign appeared on social media during the World Cup while Norwegian was promoting airline tickets. Its main visual showed an aircraft with a tail designed to evoke Haaland’s recognisable former ponytail. His legal representatives argue that the reference was sufficiently direct to identify the player and therefore amounted to unauthorised commercial use of his image.

Norwegian has since deleted the post but has challenged the decision to pursue the matter through the courts, describing the proceedings as regrettable. The airline says it would rather resolve the disagreement through dialogue, although the case will now proceed before the Norwegian judiciary.

An Oslo tribunal is due to hold a hearing on October 9. The central issue will be whether the airline’s advertising crossed the legal boundary by using signs connected to Haaland without his approval. The court will assess the campaign and determine whether the visual reference constituted an unlawful use of the striker’s identity for promotional purposes.