Carney makes playful pitch for Haaland to Norwegian PM

Prime Minister Mark Carney (left) and Norway's star striker Erling Haaland (right).

Prime Minister Mark Carney mixed business with banter at the NATO summit in Turkiye as he jokingly attempted to recruit Norway’s star striker Erling Haaland for his country’s next World Cup squad.

Carney met Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the sidelines of the summit in Turkiye’s capital Ankara on Tuesday, a day after agreeing to a submarine deal with a German-Norwegian partnership.

Highlighting the importance of Canada’s relationship with Norway, Carney could not resist making an audacious pitch for the Norwegian forward who has scored seven goals at the World Cup.

“Interoperability also means sharing crews. And in the next World Cup, if you could share Erling Haaland with us, that would be greatly, greatly appreciated,” he joked, drawing laughs from Stoere.

Stoere immediately broke into a Viking-row gesture and said: “He is not for sale.”

Norway stunned Brazil in the round of 16 and play England in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

World Cup co-hosts Canada bowed out of the tournament last week after an inspirational run that saw them claim the nation’s first World Cup point, first World Cup victory and first knockout-stage win.

Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto. Editing by Toby Davis