At a young age, Erling Haaland is already considered one of the best soccer players in the world. His eye for goal, strength, and speed seems to be unmatched. But just exactly how fast is Haaland?
Erling Haaland's highest measured top speed is 22.39 mph (36.04 km/h). Haaland also nearly broke a world record when he covered 60 meters in 6.64 seconds.
So now you know exactly how fast Haaland is, but is he the fastest soccer player in the world? And exactly how close was he to break that world record? Find out all that and more in this article!
There's no denying Haaland is extremely fast, especially for his size. In fact, he once came close to breaking a world record.
While playing for Borussia Dortmund in February 2020, Haaland clocked one of the fastest runs of his career in a game against PSG.
After defending a corner kick, Haaland went on the counter-attack and sprinted up the pitch at a blistering pace.
While his teammates made their way up the pitch with the ball, Haaland sprinted nearly the entire length of the pitch to make himself available for a killer pass.
It was revealed that Haaland had covered 60 meters in 6.64 seconds. This works out at an average speed of 20.21 mph (32.5 km/h).
Incredibly, his official time of 6.64 seconds isn't far away from the 60-meter sprint world record.
That record belongs to professional sprinter - Christian Coleman. His world record stands at 6.34 seconds, only 0.3 seconds quicker than Erling Haaland managed that night.
Those numbers are truly something to behold when you consider that Haaland wasn't even wearing proper running gear.
Even more impressive is that Haaland didn't even reach his top speed during that sprint.
His top speed came one year later during a much shorter sprint, where he recorded a top speed of 22.39 mph (36.04 km/h).
During a 3-2 win over VfB Stuttgart in April 2021, Haaland recorded his highest top speed of 22.39 mph (36.04 km/h).
Although his short sprint at the Mercedes-Benz Arena that night didn't lead to a goal, it did give him the fastest time of any player in the 2020/21 Bundesliga season.
Although the Bundesliga doesn't differentiate official speed times on or off the ball, we can safely assume that Haaland is a little slower with the ball.
Haaland's fastest ever speed was recorded off the ball. That doesn't mean Haaland isn't a fast dribbler, however.
If you watch how Haaland moves when he's on the ball, you can easily see how rapid he still is. He appears to be freakishly fast with the ball for a player of his size.
A couple of weeks after hitting his highest recorded speed, Haaland's Dortmund side found themselves down to 10 men in a game against Wolfsburg.
During a Wolfsburg attack, the ball bounced its way to Haaland's feet, and he drove towards the opposition goal at breakneck speed.
It looked like Haaland may have got very close to his top speed! However, it was revealed after the game Haaland had reached a top speed of 22.3 mph (35.99km/h).
Although this recorded speed was probably for an off-the-ball run, it means his dribble speed could not have been as fast as his overall speed.
We already know that Haaland was the fastest player during the 2020/21 season, but where does he rank overall in the Bundesliga?
Haaland is the 5th fastest player in Bundesliga history.
Below are the top 10 fastest soccer players in Bundesliga history:
*Please note official Bundesliga speed records only began in 2011*
Player: | Top Speed: |
---|---|
1. Alphonso Davies | 22.7 mph (36.5 km/h) |
2. Achraf Hakimi | 22.66 mph (36.48 km/h) |
3. Leon Bailey | 22.62 mph (36.4 km/h) |
4. Jeremiah St. Juste | 22.43 mph (36.1 km/h) |
5. Erling Haaland | 22.39 mph (36.04 km/h) |
6. Moussa Diaby | 22.37 mph (36 km/h) |
6. Rabbi Matondo | 22.37 mph (36 km/h) |
8. Kingsley Ehizibue | 22.31 mph (35.9 km/h) |
9. Kevin Mbabu | 22.25 mph (35.8 km/h) |
9. Maxence Lacroix | 22.25 mph (35.8 km/h) |
As you can see, Haaland is not the fastest player to ever play in the Bundesliga. Still, 5th place is an impressive achievement, though!
He is also technically the only striker on this list. Therefore, Erling Haaland is the fastest striker in Bundesliga history.
Looking at the Bundesliga top 10, it's clear that Haaland's speed is only beaten by defenders and wingers.
You might be asking then; how does he compare against the rest of the world's top strikers?
Sadly for Haaland, he's not the fastest striker in the world. However, he is the 6th fastest striker in the world!
Below are the top 10 fastest strikers in the world right now:
Player: | Top Speed: |
---|---|
1. Kylian Mbappe | 23.6 mph (38 km/h) |
2. Marcus Rashford | 22.55 mph (36.30 km/h) |
3. Romelu Lukaku | 22.52 mph (36.25 km/h) |
4. Ollie Watkins | 22.43 mph (36.09 km/h) |
4. Patson Daka | 22.43 mph (36.09 km/h) |
6. Erling Haaland | 22.39 mph (36.04 km/h) |
7. Inaki Williams | 22.18 mph (35.71 km/h) |
8. Adam Armstrong | 22.15 mph (35.64 km/h) |
9. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | 22.05 mph (35.5 km/h) |
10. Divock Origi | 21.77 mph (35.04 km/h) |
As you can see, Haaland still trails behind some big names. At such a young age, though, he's got a lot of time to catch up.
When you compare Haaland to these other players, one factor really makes him stand out, and that is his size.
Standing at 6ft 4in and weighing in at 194lbs, Haaland is a giant of a man.
Sometimes, being bigger can actually be an advantage when it comes to speed. Just look at Ronaldo and Messi, for example.
The taller and leaner Ronaldo is faster than the shorter and stockier Messi.
However, with Haaland, it's slightly different. Haaland is even taller and heavier than a player like Ronaldo.
This means he has a lot more weight to carry around, even when compared to some of the taller players in soccer.
His body type resembles a basketball player more than a soccer player. Therefore, you would probably expect him to be slow. As we can see, this is not the case.
The size of Haaland actually affects the way he runs. Many people have made jokes about how funny Haaland looks when he runs, but there's a reason he does this.
If you watch Haaland run, you'll notice that he appears to duck his head down.
The reason he's doing this is to reduce his height, therefore giving himself a lower center of gravity and quicker acceleration.
This unique running style makes the Norwegian run much faster as a result.
The massive amount of power Haaland has in his legs may also be a reason why he runs so fast. The only comparable player is maybe Romelu Lukaku.
Both of these players are very large and powerful.
Yet they both make that power work to their advantage when it comes to pushing off from the ground when they run.
Kylian Mbappé is faster than Erling Haaland.
Mbappé's highest measured top speed is 23.6 mph (38 km/h). Haaland's highest measured top speed is 22.39 mph (36.04 km/h).
This means Mbappé is 1.24 mph (1.96 km/h) faster than Haaland.
Mbappé's speed with the ball is also slightly faster than Haaland's overall speed, meaning Mbappé is also the faster dribbler of the two.
Having a more natural center of gravity and less weight to carry is likely why Mbappé is faster than Haaland.
To summarize, Erling Haaland is a surprisingly fast player.
With a top speed of 22.39 mph (36.04 km/h), Haaland is among the top 10 fastest strikers in the world. He is also among the top 5 fastest players in the Bundesliga.
He is so fast because of his unique running style and the massive amount of power generated in his legs.
At such a young age, Haaland is only likely to get faster.
(Click here to find out why Haaland is so good)