Football and bad haircuts go hand-in-hand. Over the years, footballers have trotted out some truly terrible trims – today, we’ll be looking at five of the very worst.
We’ll be looking at former Manchester United, Arsenal and Real Madrid stars in this list – who makes your list of the worst footballing haircuts of all time?
Paul Pogba
Paul Pogba’s garish haircuts have divided opinion over the years. His Pokeball pattern hairdo was so audacious, we had to excuse it – however, we won’t be quite so kind to his abominable leopard print barnet.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he opted to dye the tips of his hair blonde – just in case it wasn’t already enough of an eyesore.
They say a leopard never changes its spots – this wasn’t the case for Pogba, who abandoned the disasterpiece atop his head in short order.
Marouane Fellaini
Just for clarification, we actually don’t mind Marouane Fellaini’s afro in his natural form. It gave him a instantly-recognisable look – and in a bizarre way, it suited him.
However, we hope that Fellaini took notes on whoever told him to add blonde highlights to it – they clearly weren’t acting in his best interests. After this, his hair resembled a giant piece of burnt popcorn.
He had this haircut in 2016 – a couple of years later, he shaved the entire thing off. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.
Marouane Chamakh
When Marouane Chamakh’s hairdresser asked him if he wanted a mullet, a fauxhawk or a combover, the former Arsenal striker apparently said ‘yes’.
We’re still not sure what he was going for with this. Rather than looking fashionable, he instead resembled Noel Gallagher after getting caught up in gale-force winds.
Despite being a bonafide star at Bordeaux, his success in the Premier League was limited. As well as Arsenal, he also turned out for the likes of West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Cardiff City.
Taribo West
Taribo West is far from the most successful players in our list, but he might be one of the most iconic, for both positive and negative reasons.
Let’s address the main negative at hand – what on earth was he thinking when he decided to give himself green pigtails? This would eventually evolve into dreadlocks, though the lime-green colouration remained.
After his footballing career ended, Taribo West became a pastor in his native Nigeria. Presumably, God has forgiven him for this cardinal sin of a haircut.
Ronaldo
Ronaldo’s haircut at the 2002 World Cup is both the best and worst in football history. It’s the most iconic haircut that a footballer has ever had – but would you want that on your head?
Some say his electric razor ran out of battery, some say he had to leave the hairdresser’s in a hurry – we think Ronaldo simply didn’t care.
He was never the most conventionally attractive of individuals, to say the least – so why not go for something completely ridiculous? If the objective was to spark conversation, then it certainly worked – we’re still discussing it 24 years later.