CNN
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Erlend Fagerli is one of the most renowned freestyle soccer players in the world.
Fagerli has been an integral part of the sport for over 13 years and has earned it eight world championships with his hard work and dedication.
The 25-year-old Norwegian is hoping to win his ninth title at the Red Bull Street Style 2022 World Finals, taking place on October 8 in Pula, Croatia.
And he didn’t make the journey alone. Along with his brother Brynjar, the Fagerlis have risen to the top of the sport.
It all started in May 2009 when Erlend and Brynjar turned to YouTube for their entertainment at the age of 11 and 14 respectively. They stumbled across freestyle soccer videos and instantly fell in love with the sport.
“It was like something clicked in us because we always wanted to do something special,” Erlend told CNN Sport.
Inspired by what they saw, the Fagerli brothers followed their urge to try something new and grabbed the nearest soccer ball to start training. With a built-in admiration for football, the transition to freestyle was easy for Erlend; played both regular and freestyle for a number of years before turning to freestyle football.
After only seven years in the sport, Fagerli won his first world title at Superball 2016; But the win that stands out the most for him came at Superball 2018 when he won for the second time.
“It’s really special to be able to do it again and prove that you’re not just a one-take freestyler, you’re here for the long haul,” he said.
Despite his repeated successes, Fagerli expresses that his goal isn’t just to win championships, but his “biggest goal is to always try to improve in freestyle and see how good we can get”.
To push himself to new heights, Fagerli trains at least once a day, spending the first 10 minutes just thinking, “In those 10 minutes you’ve activated your mind, and maybe you can discover something during the session.”
This is an important time that helps him conceptualize tricks and allows him to develop routines advanced enough to win back-to-back world titles like he did at the 2020 and 2021 Red Bull Street Style followed by the Superball Tournament 2021, has done.
Both Erlend and Brynjar started their freestyle football journeys on the same day, and the duo never stopped training together.
They were partners and rivals throughout their careers and of course freestyle football became something that drew the two brothers even closer together.
“It was like a brother project for us to push our limits in freestyle and we’ve been doing that for over 13 years now,” explained Erlend. “I don’t even know if I would have even started if it wasn’t for him…we’ve always supported each other even though we’re rivals too, so it was so important to me.”
However, it wasn’t always easy for Erlend to have an older brother as a trailblazer. There were also times of discouragement.
“At the beginning of freestyle, Brynjar was older and taller and he was improving so much faster than me… So at that point I was actually close to retiring.”
Fagerli felt he was falling behind and did the only thing he could do: train.
After setting up his camera, he successfully performed the “alternative Mitch around the world” for the first time. The trick is to kick the ball in the air twice, wrapping both legs around the ball while in the air.
Realizing he had accomplished the feat that would become essential to his burgeoning freestyle journey, emotions overwhelmed Fagerli as he burst into tears of joy.
From then on things just kept getting better for Fagerli. The Norwegian is not only at the top of his game, but also at the top of the sport, which puts him in a position where other competitors look to him for advice and inspiration – and he’s noticed his impact on freestyle football.
There are three main formats of the sport: uppers (performing tricks with the upper body), lowers (performing tricks with the lower body), and sit-downs (performing tricks while seated).
Prior to Fagerli’s contribution to freestyle, these were primarily broken down into separate routines. In 2014, however, Fagerli came up with something new. “I also introduced the transitions, that’s how you get between those parts, so I think one influence for me is that we can combine everything in one flow.”
Being able to influence the way the sport is performed is a big part of freestyle fun for Fagerli. Seeing younger freestylers performing his tricks and concepts is “such a good feeling” as he hopes they can use it as inspiration to find their own way.
Fagerli has been traveling the world winning world-class tournaments since 2016 and he doesn’t know when he will stop, but his sights are set on the 2022 Red Bull Street Style Championship.
If Fagerli triumphs at the upcoming event, he will become the first athlete to win three consecutive Red Bull Street Style titles.
“Anything can happen and it’s always so interesting how the other freestylers are doing because there are so many new guys who are very promising… But of course my goal is to beat last year’s performance.”