'The King & The Viking': Haaland, LeBron star in Beats ad

ByChris Wright ESPN logo
Monday, October 23, 2023

As if proof were needed that Erling Haaland is continuing his meteoric rise to the top tier of global sports stars, the Manchester City striker has joined forces with LeBron James to become an ambassador for Beats by Dre headphones.

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The Norway international features alongside the one the Los Angeles Lakers superstar in a new promo campaign entitled "The King and The Viking," in which the pair connect with their families on the day before a big game.

In the promo, Haaland receives a heartfelt message from his father and agent, former footballer Alfie. Meanwhile, the man known as "King James" receives a prematch pep talk from his wife, Savannah.

As James struts moodily around his hotel room, Savannah calls to deliver some stirring motivation, instructing the NBA's all-time top points scorer to defy his critics and deliver on the court once again before couple's three children Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri join her for a brief cameo.

Alfie then does likewise, urging Erling to score vast amounts of goals, score hat tricks galore and to even put his boyhood club Bryne FK on the map -- all while snippets of archive footage play to show how Haaland developed his ruthless eye for goal at an early age.

Indeed, Haaland can be seen ripping the ball into the back of the net in customary fashion while playing for Bryne's youth team, long before he made his senior debut for the club in the Norwegian second tier at the age of 15.

Since then, he's barely stopped scoring; his 52 club goals for City last season propelled the club to a Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble.

It's been a long and goal-laden road since then but even so, to find himself sharing top billing with legitimate NBA royalty at the age of 23 is a mark of the company the prolific City front man now keeps.

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