Football is the sport of bold haircuts. The barnets that footballers continue to produce over the years never cease to amaze us. Arguably the high watermark of this fashion trend was the 90s - here’s a rundown of our favourites.
Carlo Valderrama - The Mane
Also known as El Pibe (The Kid), Carlo Valderrama is recognised as one of Colombia’s finest ever players. The attacking midfielder - although often deployed in deeper roles - was named in Pelé's Top 125 ‘greatest living footballers”. It would still perhaps be a stretch to say Valderrama was as well-known for his footballing ability as he was for his enormous blonde mane.
Robert Baggio - ‘Il Divino Codino’
Baggio is one of the best players that Italy has ever produced - a technically gifted and creative playmaker; the fourth-highest goalscorer for the Azzurri. Baggio was also famously known as ‘Il Divino Codino’ (The Divine Ponytail) and whilst we’re sure about his footballing ability, we’re not sure that there was anything divine about his scraggly ponytail.
Chris Waddle - The Mullet
Chris Waddle was one of the finest attacking midfielders in Europe throughout the 80s and early 90s. He was a part of two of England’s best World Cup teams of all time and is one of a handful of home-grown players to find success playing abroad. Before he made a return to the Premier League from Marseille, Waddle was donning his most memorable look: a rather distinctive ‘business in the front, party at the back’ mullet.
Alexi Lalas - The Wizard Look
Alexi Lalas is probably best known for his performance with the US team in the 1994 World Cup. At the time, the US team didn’t have anywhere near the amount of recognition they do now. However, Lalas was not to be missed - he sported long ginger locks and matching beard. Wizard-like. Unfortunately, his magic didn’t work on the field and the US didn’t pass the group stages.
René Higuata - Curly Locks
This Colombian goalkeeper was nicknamed El Loco (The Madman) for his risky sweeper-keeper playing style but his mass of black curly locks was hardly tame either. Higuata was famous for his hairstyle but is also well-known for his scorpion kick which he used to clear a cross in a friendly versus England in 1995.
The entire 1998 Romania squad - Bleach Blonde
One of the most famous hairstyle moments in football history is owed to the Romanian squad of the 1998 World Cup. The team believed that being united in a terrible bleach blonde hairstyle would bring them good luck. However, they were knocked out of the tournament in the last 16 which (rightly or wrongly) produced an outpour of dumb blonde jokes.
All of our blog articles are reviewed by our Medical Director before publication.
