Barbering is rooted in community and identity, has evolved into an art form that combines precision with creativity. The barbershop is a gathering place, just as the stadium or the local pub is a haven for soccer fans. Together, they create spaces for dialogue, celebration, and shared experiences. The styles born in barbershops and inspired by soccer stars become symbols of unity, crossing cultural and socioeconomic boundaries.
Barbershops, especially in urban epicentres like London, Milan, NYC, Paris, Tokyo & Hong Kong have long served as cultural hubs where style trends are born, shared, and redefined.
The relationship between barbering and soccer is more than a surface-level connection of hairstyles and grooming; it’s a deep intertwining of culture, identity, and influence. Over the decades, the two have combined to create a powerful cultural phenomenon that reflects societal trends, elevates players as tastemakers, and perpetuates a continuous evolution of style. These styles symbolise fandom and personal expression, turning a haircut into a statement of allegiance and admiration. They often serve as extensions of their individuality, social statements, and, at times, cultural defiance.
SAFE SPACE
Adding value in more than aesthetics, barber shops are also a host to community gatherings of all different backgrounds. Safety provided not just in the literal sense, as the blade wielding barber runs his razor across your neck, but also in discussion, feelings and ideas. You can share stories, jokes, banter, emotions, troubles with your barber. They’ve heard it all, and if they don’t know, the barber next to them does, or indeed the community of people sat waiting for their turn as well. No judgement is cast, no shit goes down; just honesty in a space of true vulnerability.
Barbers are more than cutters of hair; they’re problem solvers, wisdom providers and checkers of reality. They’ll gas you up when you need it most, and bring you back down when you need some hard-earned humility. Doesn’t matter if your a soccer player, a politician, musician, business owner, CEO, criminal, a father, son, grandfather – in the barber shop, you’re all equal.
CRAFTING IDENTITY & PERSONAL BRAND
Before footballers had control over their image through social media, they had to carefully – or recklessly – curate their image through the mainstream press. Whilst players were recognisable and had plenty of influence over culture from the 70s and 80s, it was really the late 90s that the Beckham effect really took hold and took Becks himself, and the subsequent generation, to the stratosphere.
Pictured leaving trendy bars, clubs, restaurants and gltizy events, these players had to make sure they looked good for every occasion, including matchdays. It wasn’t unheard of to get a fresh trim the day before the big Super Sunday, beamed round the world to millions thanks to satellite TV. Fashion houses adorned these athletes, but so did the latest and soon-to-be-latest haircut trends.
We take a look at some of the most iconic haircuts from players over the years.
Paul Pogba
The toughest job in this article was narrowing it down to just one for a player who could have been an all time great box-to-box midfielder. Instead, he chose a different path and in the end became more of a barber-to-barber one instead
Antoine Griezmann
Grizzy has had suffered a French / Uruguayan identity crisis over the years, which has maybe manifested itself as a haircut identity crisis. A few choice haircuts over the years has cemented him as a top hairstyle tastemaker in the last decade.
Roberto Baggio
A tail of 2 Italian tragedies. A missed penalty in the 1994 World Cup final, was actually one of FOUR misses in the shootout. Unfortunately for Roberto, his was the decisive one, iconically memorable thanks to this rat’s tail hairdo… or don’t, as it were.
Chris Waddle
1980s classic. Whilst the mullet has come back into fashion (more than once) since the decade of synths & John Barnes raps, it hasn’t quite made it as far as Waddle’s ever becoming popular again. Curiously another iconic haircut and another high profile penalty miss….
Bobby Charlton
Arguably Man United’s & England’s greatest ever player, the most incredible thing about Sir Bobby is knowing that he is only 29 years old at the point this picture being taken. The combover has been around for centuries, and one of the few that’s maybe never been in fashion.
Hector Bellerin
Football’s OG hipster, Hector has redefined what it means to be a modern man in the modern game. Never shied away from creating publicity off the pitch with his style choices and firm progressive views, Bellerin has endeared himself to his fans in Spain, London and the wider world.
Taribo West
Plagued by scepticism about his “real” age, Taribo could play off being any age he wanted with his youthful athletic performance as a power centre half, juxtaposed by his dainty colourful braids matching the team colours he wore; most famously the green and white of his national Nigerian team.
Mario Balotelli
we’re not sure if there’s a more iconic image from a Euro’s tournament than an imperious Super Mario bashing 2 in against the Germans. Celebration; mental. Haircut; mental. Balotelli; mental.
Hidetoshi Nakata
Style icon, so much so in fact, that despite being a generational talent for Japan, playing in Serie A & the Premier League, Nakata retired at 29 to pursue a career in fashion. With his effortlessly cool style, it’s easy to see why.
David Beckham
In fairness to Becks, as time has passed some of his most outrageous haircuts seem fairly tame in today’s age. But it must be remembered he made front page news, for a buzz cut. Boyband curtains, mohawk, faux-hawk, mullet, top knot he did it all. Undoubtedly one of the biggest pop-cultural influences of modern hair fashion trends.
Ronaldo R9
Ronaldo R9 – probably the most memorable of all haircuts in football. The original Ronaldo came back from a career threatening injury, to make it to the 2002 World Cup with a career threatening haircut. Instead of humiliation for Ronaldo 4 years on from the 1998 World Cup final disaster, he gained redemption by winning the world cup with Brazil, finishing as top goalscorer and pretty much cementing his legendary status as a player
BONUS: Sven
The second most iconic haircut of the 2002 world cup was weirdly the inverse of Ronaldo’s. A British schoolkid cut his hair to emulate the then-England manager Sven Goran Eriksson which gained him dubious credibility on the playground, and a school suspension for non-regulation hair.
FC KOWLOON 