Erling Haaland may have been the biggest star to come out of this World Cup as fans all over the world became enamored with the big Norwegian striker as he raced for the Golden Boot and added to his 72 million-plus social media followers with adventures featuring Birkin Bags, Katz’s Deli, and a certain taxidermied raccoon. But he also drove what Visa called a “pop-up economy.”
The deepest World Cup run in Norwegian football history tracked closely with the Manchester City striker’s own path through the tournament, and it turns out the spending followed him off the field as much as it followed the team on it. The credit card provider disclosed to Fortune that transaction volumes inside Norway nearly doubled during the team’s matches, and by the later rounds, spending activity rose in more than 60 countries whenever Norway played. Visa measured the effect by comparing transaction volume in a 12-hour window around kickoff against a typical day in the same country before the tournament began.
“This was one of the most impactful FIFA World Cup tournaments we’ve seen to date both on and off the pitch,” said Frank Cooper III, Visa’s chief marketing officer. He added that Visa was able to see “those economies emerge, move from city to city and connect millions of fans with the merchants and communities hosting the world’s biggest sporting event.” Like Erling Haaland’s magical mystery tour across the U.S.
A Norwegian Cinderella story
After Norway beat Brazil in the round of 16, Haaland and several teammates stopped at Wild Bill’s Western Store, a 40-year-old western wear shop in Dallas, where he bought hats, boots and a belt buckle. Store owner Cody Newport told CBS News the shop has sold more than 2,000 T-shirts since the visit and called it the best month in the store’s history. Dallas was also one of the host cities where Visa recorded some of the tournament’s sharpest spending spikes tied to specific matches.
The pattern of “pop-up economies” held beyond the stadiums where Norway played. Haaland’s Instagram following grew by about 32 million during the tournament, taking his total from roughly 40 million to more than 72 million, the largest gain of any player.
He was photographed repeatedly carrying Hermès Haut à Courroies bags, including pieces listed on the resale market between $45,000 and $80,000, and Google searches for the bag spiked as a result. Norway’s national team jerseys sold out and began reselling on StockX for more than $400. A limited-edition hair-tie collaboration with the Oslo brand Kknekki, in which Haaland is a minority investor, sold out within weeks, and the brand’s Instagram following jumped by 4,000 followers in a single day after it posted the partnership.
The reach extended overseas as well. Norway recorded about 392,000 overnight stays by Chinese tourists in 2025, more than double the roughly 220,000 stays recorded the year before, according to data compiled by the trade office Innovation Norway. Tourism professionals pointed to Haaland’s popularity in China, where he has built a following on the platform Douyin, as one factor behind the growth.
Visa’s data covers the full scope of the World Cup, a 39-day tournament with 104 matches, 48 teams and 16 host cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, drawing nearly 7 million spectators, and which FIFA President Gianni Infantino promised would deliver economic boons. Cross-border Visa transactions in host cities rose nearly 20% year-over-year, and tap-to-pay transactions climbed almost 12%. Fans from Colombia, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Argentina and Brazil generated the highest cross-border spending.
Spending varied by city. Santa Clara-San Jose, Boston and Miami recorded the largest increases in in-person spending from both international and domestic cardholders. Boston led growth in dining transactions, Guadalajara recorded the strongest transportation spending growth, Atlanta saw a surge in entertainment spending, and New York City saw a notable rise in retail spending. Certain matches drove sharp local spikes: Ecuador-Curaçao and Colombia-Ghana, both in Kansas City, and Croatia-Ghana in Philadelphia produced the highest year-over-year spending uplift around kickoff.
