Erling Haaland may be the most ruthless finisher in world football, but put a controller in his hands and he turns into something very different: a Call of Duty camper.
The Manchester City striker made the confession while getting an early look at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, owning up to the play style that drives online lobbies up the wall. “I’ve been a camper my whole life. I’m that guy that you hate,” he admitted, adding that he expected some backlash for saying it but had made peace with that.
It is a refreshingly honest admission from one of the biggest names in sport, and it has already got gamers talking.
A gamer off the pitch
Haaland has never hidden his love of gaming. In a “day in the life” video posted to his YouTube channel in April, he showed off his gaming room, complete with a set-up for hosting LAN sessions with friends. He named Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, Minecraft and FIFA among his favourites, and singled out the original Modern Warfare 2 as one of his top three games of all time. He even joked that he would love Xbox to sponsor him one day.
The video went viral during the summer as Norway’s World Cup run turned global attention on him. For Haaland, gaming is mostly a social thing: he has said he only really plays when his mates are online, and that the chat between matches is half the fun.
Why campers get so much stick
In Call of Duty, “camping” means finding a hidden spot, often in a corner or behind cover, and waiting for opponents to wander into your sights rather than moving around the map. It is perfectly legal, and often effective, but it is widely seen as the least sporting way to play. Few things wind up a lobby like being picked off again and again by someone who hasn’t moved in five minutes.
The irony is hard to miss. On the pitch, Haaland is anything but patient from a distance. He is all explosive runs, physical battles and attacking the ball. Defenders across Europe would probably love it if he spent a match tucked away in a corner. Then again, his real-world game is built on lurking in the right place and pouncing at the perfect moment, so perhaps the two styles are closer than they look.
What’s next
Modern Warfare 4 has been running in early access ahead of its full release on 22 November, so there is every chance players will soon find themselves in a lobby with a towering Norwegian hiding in the corner. Whether fans forgive him is another matter. For now, Haaland seems perfectly happy being the villain of the lobby, as long as he is playing with friends and having a laugh.