Russian model Anastasia Kostromitina, 24, has become an internet sensation for her strong likeness to Norwegian football star Erling Haaland. A viral video posted by her mother, a social media influencer, features Anastasia mimicking Haaland's facial expressions, gestures, and signature goal celebration pose. The video has amassed over 100 million views across social platforms, with Chinese sources reporting these figures and other outlets noting over 5 million views [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
The video opens with her mother asking, "Does only my daughter look like a star?" highlighting the uncanny resemblance that first drew attention to Anastasia [1]. Anastasia initially struggled with the comparisons and did not accept the likeness. She said, "At first I didn’t feel I looked like him and was even somewhat hurt. But now I think resembling such a great athlete, even just in appearance, is a wonderful thing — so I’ve decided to make the most of the opportunity" [1, 9].
Over the past four years, people had told Anastasia she looked like Haaland but she was reluctant to accept it. The viral video posted in July 2026 quickly shifted public perception and her own attitude toward the resemblance [9, 10, 11]. Anastasia, not originally a football fan, now watches matches with her boyfriend and supports the Norwegian national team. She expressed hope to meet Haaland in person and take a photo with him one day [1, 2, 3].
Anastasia has built a solid modeling career outside of this fame, working for brands such as Clarins, Dyson, and Uniqlo. She is signed to the MOTION modeling agency and has approximately 130,000 Instagram followers [9, 12, 6, 11]. Her boyfriend noted she remains beautiful despite the comparisons to Haaland [11].
The video’s viral status is reflected in the 5.34 million social media likes it received, demonstrating widespread popularity beyond just a lookalike gimmick [10]. Despite some negative comments, Anastasia said she focuses on her supporters and considers the attention a positive development [10].
She will be watching the Norway-England World Cup quarter-finals match on August 11, where she plans to support Haaland and the Norwegian team [1, 7].
