Haaland scores 5 in Norway’s 11-1 rout of Moldova, raising questions over World Cup Qualifiers

Dubai: Erling Haaland fired Norway to a staggering 11–1 win over Moldova in Tuesday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier.

The Manchester City striker was unstoppable, bagging five goals, while Thelo Aasgaard chipped in with four of his own after coming off the bench.

On the surface, the headlines write themselves: another Haaland masterclass. The Scandinavian super striker has now scored 48 International goals from 45 games nows. That's incredible numbers.

But when you dig a little deeper, and that game highlights a much bigger problem with how qualifying football is structured, especially in Europe.

What played out in Oslo was not really a contest. It was a mismatch that exposed the gulf in money and player development between nations.

Moldova’s entire squad is worth just €13.5 million, barely a fraction of Haaland’s own €180 million valuation.

For Norway, it was a walk in the park. Their current crop of footballers are intriguing to watch. For the watching world, it felt more like a training drill than a World Cup qualifier.

Norway also has a population of around 5.5 million, more than double Moldova’s 2.6 million, giving it a much larger pool of talent to draw from. But that disparity will always exist between nations.

And this is not just a one off. We have simply taken this game as an example. We can pick many such games from the European qualification roaster. Moldova have now shipped 25 goals in five games in this qualifying group.

Matches like this reduce the process to stronger nations racking up goals against weaker sides. Upsets from small nations are romantic when they happen, but they are rare. For most underdogs, these kinds of thrashings do nothing to aid their growth. If anything, they are a mentally and emotionally draining exercise.

Fifa and Uefa have faced long standing criticism for the way qualifiers are set up, and with the World Cup expanding to include more teams, the problem could get worse. Yes, more places mean more opportunities, but if the level is not there, the tournament itself risks being diluted.

The World Cup is supposed to bring the best of world football together, but in a 48 team format the group stage could end up looking like an extended qualifying round.

For now, the system mostly serves the giants of European football, who breeze through against minnows before the real challenges begin.

One possible fix often suggested is a pre qualification round, where the weakest teams face each other first.

That way, the qualifying group stage would feature more evenly matched sides, reducing these lopsided scorelines and keeping the competition credible. In short, a qualifier for the qualifiers might be the solution after all. Otherwise, the stat padding will continue.