At Oslo Airport Gardermoen, Erling Haaland stepped down from Norway’s team plane on July 13 with a taxidermied raccoon tucked under his arm. Its paws were fixed around a glass bottle, and its body rested on a wooden base. The flight had brought Norway home after a 2-1 extra-time loss to England ended the country’s first men’s World Cup quarterfinal.
The object came from Wild Bill’s Western Store in downtown Dallas, a family-owned business that says it has operated for more than 40 years. Its official listing prices the piece at $750, marks it sold out and gives the raccoon a name, Rickie.
Haaland visited Wild Bill’s during Norway’s Texas stop, shortly after his late goal secured a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast at AT&T Stadium on June 30. He left with western clothing that included a black cowboy hat, boots and a T-shirt printed with “Y’all can kiss my Dallas.” His own X post from the visit showed the outfit.
It’s a commercial taxidermy display mounted on a wooden base. Despite the product name, the bottle shown in Wild Bill’s photographs is labeled Greenall’s Wild Berry Gin. The listing doesn’t identify the taxidermist, give the date the mount was made or explain where the animal originated.
By the time Haaland carried it onto the tarmac in Norway, the object had become a physical record of his first World Cup. He scored seven goals, helped Norway reach the last eight in its first appearance since 1998 and spent part of the tournament appearing in Dallas in a cowboy hat and boots. The raccoon connected that stop to something he could bring back with him.
From a Dallas shelf to an Oslo tarmac
The setting was formal. Norway’s flight entered the country under an F-35 escort, arrived to a water salute and red carpet, then continued toward an audience with King Harald in Oslo. Haaland entered that sequence carrying an object bought at a downtown Dallas store during the team’s weeks in the United States.
Haaland offered a brief explanation in an X post later that day. “It followed me home,” he wrote.
He also used an Instagram poll to consider four names: Cowboy, Ranger, TEX and R.O.W., short for Raccoon On Wheels. Wild Bill’s had already called the figure Rickie in its product copy, leaving the store name and Haaland’s shortlist side by side.
The object’s route is unusually easy to trace. It moved from a Dallas retail shelf into Haaland’s World Cup photographs, then crossed the Atlantic under his arm after Norway’s deepest men’s World Cup run. Its path follows the geography of his tournament: Dallas, Miami and Oslo.
