Canada requests Haaland!

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a humorous request to his Norwegian counterpart during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Turkey, asking to borrow “Viking Squad” star Erling Haaland for Canada’s national team in the next World Cup.

The joke came during a meeting between Carney, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the sidelines of the summit hosted in Ankara on Tuesday.

While speaking about the strong cooperation between Canada and Norway, Carney seized the opportunity to tease his Norwegian counterpart about striker Haaland, a Manchester City star.

Jokingly, he said in a statement reported by Reuters: “Coordination and interoperability are not limited to the exchange of equipment; they also include the exchange of talent. If you could lend us Erling Haaland for the next World Cup, we would be extremely grateful,” which drew laughter from Støre.

Norway, which knocked out Brazil in the round of 16, will face England in the quarter-finals early Saturday, while Canada, one of the co-hosts of the World Cup, was eliminated from the tournament last week after a 3-0 defeat to Morocco in the round of 16.