In September 2021, after Borussia Dortmund beat Besiktas, Erling Haaland called his teammate Jude Bellingham "amazing" on camera. Bellingham, 23, wandered into the shot and planted a jokey kiss on Haaland's cheek before disappearing. It was a small moment — but it went viral for a reason.
In a football world often filled with online arguments and tribalism, the friendship between Bellingham and Haaland, now 25, feels genuinely different. Their Instagram feeds are full of clips of them hugging, celebrating together, and looking genuinely happy in each other's company. In one moment that fans keep sharing, Haaland rushed to protect Bellingham after a rival player pushed him on the pitch.
"These are two of the most ruthlessly competitive players in world football, but off the pitch they are funny, affectionate and clearly comfortable in showing they care about each other," said social media expert Mark Navarra in a BBC interview.
PR expert Mark Borkowski told the BBC that today's footballers are a "different breed" from the 1990s and 2000s, when many stars had troubled relationships with brands because of bad behavior. He praised Bellingham's "wisdom, level-headed nature and self-awareness" — qualities that seem to define both players.
What makes their friendship stand out is how real it feels. Navarra explained that football social media is often "built around outrage and tribalism," turning players into either heroes or villains. The Bellingham-Haaland bond offers something refreshing: "It re-humanizes two people who are normally cast as multi-million pound assets or rivals or goal-scoring machines."
Off the pitch, both players seem refreshingly normal. Haaland told Norwegian channel NRK about a typical night in: "I cook dinner… It's going to be a little embarrassing for her that I say this, but she likes video games. We play Minecraft together, we build houses and all that. Or we go back home to Bryne and order kebabs." His girlfriend is childhood sweetheart Isabel Haugseng Johansen.
Bellingham has spoken openly about how his family shaped him. "If I had a dad that didn't play football, I probably would never have got into football," he told the England Football website. "I have my mum who has taught me more about life outside football… about staying calm, staying cool, being a good example to my teammates."
In a world of exhausting online content and polarizing opinions, their friendship is a welcome break. Navarra summed it up simply: "It gives fans rivalry without hatred — which increasingly certainly feels like a novelty online."
No matter what happens on the pitch, one thing seems certain: this friendship isn't going anywhere.