The historic image of the Norwegian team with Erling Haaland will have 250 copies sold for prices between R$54,000 and R$205,000 each.
Part of the profit obtained by the Norwegian Football Federation will be donated to the Association to Combat Childhood Cancer, a historic partner of the country’s men’s team.
Produced without artificial intelligence in a fjord, the work titled ‘The Vikings Are Coming’ featured the digital insertion of Captain Martin Odegaard in the final image.
The already iconic photo of the Norwegian team in Viking style before the World Cup could generate a total of 39 million Norwegian kroner (around R$21.3 million, at current prices) in revenue. In total, 250 copies of the image will be sold.
The photo produced with star Erling Haaland and his 25 co-stars by renowned photographer David Yarrow, in a fjord near Oslo, with real wooden boats in the background, is being sold for prices ranging between 100,000 crowns (approximately R$54,000) and 375,000 crowns (R$205,000), depending on the size of the print chosen.
The values were revealed by the Norwegian newspaper VG. According to the publication, the profit belongs to the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF), which refuses to detail where the money raised will be sent. Part of the sales must be passed on to the Association to Combat Childhood Cancer (Barnekreftforeningen). The Fine Arts gallery confirmed to VG that this clause was only included after sales began. But the exact percentage or amount of proceeds that will go to charity is unknown.
David Yarrow is a world-renowned fine art photographer and holds the sales rights to this unique team photo, while the NFF holds the editorial rights to the image. What we can say is that a portion of any net profit will go to the Association to Combat Childhood Cancer, an entity with which the men’s team has had a long-standing partnership, explained the NFF’s commercial director, Runar Pahr Andresen, via email to VG.
The Association to Combat Childhood Cancer informed VG that it has maintained an excellent relationship with the federation over the last four years, since the team adopted the institution’s cause as a priority. The photo went up for sale on Monday. On Tuesday, the official website began displaying information that Barnekreftforeningen would receive income from the profit.
The fact that the NFF also contributes financial support, including through the sale of the team’s official photo, is something that we value immensely — declared the association’s general secretary, Trine Nicolaysen.
The federation confirmed that the initiative to look for David Yarrow came from the entity itself.
The NFF wanted to create an iconic image of the men’s national team now that it has been 28 years since we last participated in a World Cup. We contacted David Yarrow, who is one of the most highly regarded art photographers in the world and who had previously worked with Erling Haaland. The result exceeded our best expectations, arousing enormous interest globally. The photo went viral, surpassing 100 million views on social media — concluded Pahr Andresen.
The photo session took place in a fjord near Oslo and was attended by 26 players and technical staff. Yarrow himself highlighted that the NFF provided the real boats and that there was no use of artificial intelligence in the construction of the image. Captain Martin Odegaard was unable to attend the original recordings due to the Champions League final, and was digitally inserted into the final result.
The resulting artwork was titled “The Vikings Are Coming”. And the Vikings are arriving in Group I, alongside France, Iraq and Senegal.
