Now, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo venturing into smaller leagues as they near the end of their brilliant careers, 2024 may finally be the year for the next in line in football royalty.
Norwegian Haaland beat his team mate Kevin De Bruyne and 2022 World Cup champion Lionel Messi after helping City win three major trophies, the Champions League, English Premier League and FA Cup.
Italy face the shocking possibility of failing to reach the World Cup for a third consecutive time.
Liverpool reclaimed top spot in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Burnley at Anfield on Saturday, but they were made to battle hard by a brave visiting side.
The 21-year-old striker's value has skyrocketed thanks to his prolific form at Dortmund after joining them from Austrian side Salzburg two years ago.
City manager Pep Guardiola had kept his cards close to his chest on Friday, saying Haaland would be assessed after training, but the Norwegian didn't appear to participate in that training.
Haaland now has an astonishing 42 goals for City since joining from Borussia Dortmund last June.
Manchester City and Chelsea both secured their Champions League places with victories on the final day of the English Premier League season and Newcastle United joined them despite stumbling to a last-day defeat.
Erling Haaland fired his fourth Premier League hat-trick of a remarkable season to earn Manchester City a comfortable 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
Erling Haaland arrived at Manchester City nearly a year ago to questions about how a "battering ram" of a centre-forward would fit into mastermind manager Pep Guardiola's nuanced and tactically demanding style.
Erling Haaland became the third player in Champions League history to score five goals in a game as he led Manchester City to an unrelenting 7-0 rout of RB Leipzig in the second leg of their last-16 tie.
Erling Haaland had the same points as Lionel Messi but lost out by having fewer first-place votes from national team captains.
IMAGES from the European Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Erling Haaland has scored 14 of Manchester City's 29 English Premier League goals so far this season with hat-tricks in his last three home matches.
Several other media, including Bild newspaper and Kicker magazine, citing unnamed sources, also said a deal could be finalised in the coming days.
City did not replace Argentine striker Sergio Aguero last year when the club's all-time top scorer moved to Barcelona on a free transfer.
Norway last qualified for the World Cup in 1998.
Roundup of Champions League matches played on Wednesday night
Sacked Italy manager Luciano Spalletti bowed out with a victory after his side laboured to an uninspired 2-0 home win over Moldova in their World Cup qualification match on Monday.
Haaland effectively put the game to bed early in the second half with a simple finish, before taking his league tally to 20 for the season in the 64th minute.
Key stats from Liverpool's season after they won their second Premier League title on Sunday and a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title...
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the Premier League
With 12 games remaining Manchester City are in fourth place with 44 points, just five ahead of 10th-placed Fulham.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday night.
IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Wednesday.
Arsenal moved to 50 points from 24 games.
Wright blasts Man City's Haaland for throwing ball at Arsenal's Gabriel
Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored hat-tricks to fire champions Manchester City to a rampant 6-3 thrashing of local rivals Manchester United in the English Premier League on Sunday.
Indian club East Bengal produced an utterly dominant show to crush Bangladesh's Bashundhara Kings 4-0 in their AFC Challenge League match in Thimphu on Tuesday.
A summary of Wednesday's action in the Premier League.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
The 20-year-old has scored 11 goals in 11 games in all competitions this season, including four goals in the Champions League.
Jude Bellingham topped the men's overall voting, with the Real Madrid and England midfielder receiving 11,176 selections from his peers.
Liverpool took another step towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 win at Manchester City.
Greece beat England for the first time as striker Vangelis Pavlidis's double earned the visitors a richly-deserved 2-1 victory.
Liverpool strolled to a 2-0 victory over Brentford, while Newcastle drew 1-1 at Bournemouth.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest maintained unbeaten starts to the Premier League season with a topsy-turvy 2-2 draw as the visitors finished with 10 men and both managers were shown red cards in a feisty clash on Sunday.
A summary of Sunday's action in the Premier League.
Champions Manchester City could only muster a 2-2 Premier League draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
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