--- title: "Haaland recognized her instantly: Manchester City striker meets childhood teammate in Leipzig" description: "After Manchester City's Champions League victory over RB Leipzig, Erling Haaland met women's team defender Andrea Noreim. It turned out the Norwegians have known each other since childhood and played together at the Bryne academy." date: 2026-11-06T16:42:16.186Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/haaland-meets-childhood-teammate-in-leipzig tags: [erling-haaland, manchester-city, rb-leipzig, champions-league, women-football, andrea-noreim] author: "Dmitriy Shatolov" publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Haaland recognized her instantly: Manchester City striker meets childhood teammate in Leipzig ![Erling Haaland and Andrea Noreim smiling together in the stadium tunnel after a Champions League match](https://xab.info/media/2026/11/06/haaland-vstretilsya-s-detstvennoy-podruzhkoy-iz-brunne/haaland-vstretilsya-s-detstvennoy-podruzhkoy-iz-brunne-1.webp) ## Key Points - Following Manchester City's Champions League win against RB Leipzig, Haaland met women's team defender Andrea Noreim in the stadium tunnel. - The Norwegians had not seen each other for about eight years, but Haaland recognized Noreim immediately; they spent five years together in the Bryne club academy. - Noreim was the only girl in the training group during childhood and played as a forward; she later won the Women's Champions League with Lyon. - In the summer of 2025, Noreim moved to the RB Leipzig women's team, with a contract running until June 30, 2027. After the final whistle of the Champions League match where Manchester City defeated RB Leipzig, a rare and heartwarming reunion took place in the stadium's tunnel: English club striker Erling Haaland ran into Andrea Noreim, a defender for the German club's women's team. According to [Sport RBC.UA](https://www.sport.rbc.ua), citing the player's Instagram page and her comments to BILD, the Norwegians had not seen each other for about eight years, yet Haaland recognized his compatriot immediately. The footballers hugged and chatted for several minutes, with Noreim later noting that she "had fun talking" to her former teammate and that "to her, he remained exactly the same as when they were younger." ### Eight years without a meeting in the stadium tunnel According to Andrea Noreim's account, she approached Haaland herself after the match, and within a second it was clear that time had not erased their acquaintance: the Manchester City striker recognized her at once. The defender stated that they had not crossed paths for about eight years, and it was this gap that made the meeting particularly emotional. The conversation lasted a few minutes — enough to recall their shared years in the same team and exchange news about careers that went in completely different, yet successful paths after parting ways in Norway. ### The shared academy in Bryne: the only girl among the boys The story of Haaland and Noreim's acquaintance began in the Norwegian town of Bryne, where both trained in the academy of the local club. According to the source, they spent five years in the same training group, with Andrea being about a year older than Erling and remaining the only girl among the boys. In childhood, she played as a forward, while Haaland, despite being younger and physically inferior to his peers, already stood out for his scoring efficiency and ability to find shooting positions — qualities that later made him one of the best forwards on the planet. ### Noreim's path: from Lyon to RB Leipzig Following their shared period at the Norwegian club, the footballers' careers diverged. At 17, Andrea Noreim moved to French side Lyon, with whom she won the Women's Champions League in the 2016/17 season. At the professional level, she also became the champion of Sweden and Denmark, and won the national Super Cup with Portuguese club Sporting. In the summer of 2025, the defender joined the RB Leipzig women's team, signing a contract until June 30, 2027, according to the source. It was in the German club's kit that she found herself at the stadium on the day of the Champions League match against Manchester City. ### Haaland at the top: the Ballon d'Or context The meeting in Leipzig took place against the backdrop of Erling Haaland's ongoing rise, as he was previously reported to be among the top ten contenders for the Ballon d'Or. Thus, a few minutes before and after the match won by Manchester City, one of the main candidates for the season's individual award recalled his first steps in football — at that very Norwegian academy where Andrea Noreim trained alongside him, a year older and the only girl in the group. For both footballers, this meeting served as a vivid example of how youth sports in small clubs lay not only a professional foundation, but also human connections that endure across years and continents. The story of Haaland and Noreim — from a shared pitch in Bryne to the stadium tunnel in Leipzig — remains one of the warmest stories gifted by this Champions League match. ## Fact-Check & Sources - [Не виделись восемь лет: Голланд встретился с бывшей партнеркой по команде](https://sport.rbc.ua/ukr/football/bachilisya-visim-rokiv-goland-zustrivsya-1793983114.html) - Первоисточник: встреча после матча ЛЧ, 8 лет без общения, 5 лет в академии «Брюне», карьера Норейм («Лион», чемпионки Швеции/Дании, «Спортинг», переход в «РБ Лейпциг» летом 2025, контракт до 30.06.2027), комментарий Норейм из BILD. ## FAQ ### Where and when did Haaland meet Andrea Noreim? In the stadium tunnel after the Champions League match where Manchester City defeated RB Leipzig. ### How long had they not seen each other? According to Noreim, about eight years, yet Haaland recognized her immediately. ### How did they meet? They trained together in the Bryne club academy in Norway and spent five years in the same training group; Noreim was the only girl in the group and about a year older than Haaland. ### What is Noreim's career like after Bryne? At 17, she moved to Lyon and won the Women's Champions League (2016/17), became a champion of Sweden and Denmark, won the Portuguese Super Cup with Sporting, and joined the RB Leipzig women's team in the summer of 2025.