World Cup to wedding: Erling Haaland revives Viking celebration for Gianluigi Donnarumma & Alessia Elefante

Last Updated on 25 July 2026

The World Cup ended last Sunday. The Viking Row, it turns out, was not done with us.

Just over a week after Norway were knocked out by England in the quarter-finals, Erling Haaland arrived at a masseria in Puglia, found a drum, gathered the wedding guests of his Manchester City teammate Gianluigi Donnarumma, and started rowing.

Some celebrations, it seems, transcend continents, World Cups and dress codes.

Alessia Elefante and Gianluigi Donnarumma: 10 years in the making

Gianluigi Donnarumma and Alessia Elefante married on July 24 at a church on a hilltop town in Puglia. The whole town turned out, locals lining the streets with a sea of white roses everywhere. After all, the couple had this wedding planned for nearly 10 years.

They grew up near each other around Castellammare di Stabia and started dating around 2016. Elefante, an interior designer with 125,000 Instagram followers, has followed Donnarumma from Milan to Paris to Manchester without a single public complaint.

They have a son, Leo, born in September 2024. She arrived at the church in a lace-trimmed tulle gown, veil flowing, white rose bouquet in hand. The image of a couple who have waited patiently for their moment and made it count entirely.

The reception followed at a masseria in the territory of Fasano, one of Puglia’s great farmhouse venues. It’s full of olive trees and warm stone with long tables under the stars. Italian comedians Pio e Amedeo were among the guests. So, crucially, was Haaland.

Erling Haaland’s drum, the row and the celebration that broke the Internet

Haaland first gathered the wedding guests together and demonstrated the movements, the coordinated seated rowing motion that became the defining image of Norwegian World Cup support in 2026. Then he picked up a drum.

He beat out the rhythm of the Viking Row, leading every guest at the reception through the choreography, the same choreography that had filled stadiums across North America throughout the tournament.

The video spread across Italian and Scandinavian social media simultaneously, racking up millions of views before midnight. After all, their friendship runs deep. Donnarumma has spoken openly about how Haaland “insisted a lot” to convince him to leave PSG for City.

It’s a bond forged even before they were teammates, through competitive respect and post-match messages after Norway met Italy in World Cup qualifying. Donnarumma described Haaland as “a fantastic guy, very calm, loves his family” and said their friendship felt natural.