There are slight differences in the spelling of the words Haaland and Halland, but for the Swedish region of Halland the similarities have consequences that create problems and occasional creative impulses.

The reason is, the Erling Braut Haaland family name is increasingly popular in various international and social media along with the smash success at Manchester City. The use of the #Haaland subject tag has also seen a tremendous increase.

Norwegian target machine names are not always spelled correctly. Many skipped and included the subject tag #Halland instead, according to the tourism office of the Swedish region of the same name.

Open Letter

Now department head Jimmy Sandberg at Visit Halland is sounding the alarm about this created challenge. In an open letter, which Swedish Football Channel review, he wrote:

“For decades, we’ve been telling the world about Halland, a little hidden gem on Sweden’s west coast. Hundreds of thousands of tourists come here every year to enjoy the sandy beaches, lush forests and cozy city center. But to our dismay, we are now seeing our efforts disappear quickly. All because of the fantastic Norwegian footballer”, Sandberg wrote in the published letter on his LinkedIn users.

At the same time, the text is written with a significant degree of twinkle in the eye.

“It has come to our attention that there has been great confusion regarding the spelling of the name Haaland. Which has resulted in thousands of journalists and fans calling him … Halland in posts. But we are Halland. He is Haaland,” continued the department head.

Want to visit Haaland

A quick image search on Google’s search service confirms what Sandberg wrote. The results mainly provide an image of Erling Braut Haaland.

– After City’s success, he appeared everywhere. On every single image search, every single subject tag. “What is this Halland’s name?” But you see it quickly, there are a lot of misspellings. Then we said we could make something fun out of this. It’s not a real problem, but it could actually be a problem if he scores more goals. “It’s fun for him, but we’re a little lost in his success,” says Sandberg to the football channel.

He hopes more people in the future will understand the Haaland spelling, rather than the common “Halland” variant. He also had another small dream.

– The funniest thing is if Haaland comes to Halland. But that may be too much to expect, Sandberg said.

17 goals in eleven games is Haaland’s strongest Premier League statistic so far. At the moment, the Norwegian is injured, but it also makes headlines almost every day. Maybe more desperate for Visit Halland.