The 16 best soccer haircuts of all time

7. Ronaldo

Ronaldo (also known as “the proper one” if you remember the ’90s) had a remarkable career. For everything he achieved at club level, which included two La Liga titles as well as a UEFA Cup and a Cup Winners Cup victory, he will always be defined by World Cups.

He went to the 1994 tournament in the USA, but was only 17 and didn’t play. By the time of the 1998 finals in France, he was widely considered to be the best player in the world. He suffered a fit before the final though, and shouldn’t have played. Ronaldo had his redemption in 2002, by winning the trophy and picking up the Golden Shoe award for the tournament’s top scorer.

He did, however, mar his fantastic summer that year by sporting a terrible haircut. Short all over, it was shaved entirely but for a wedge at the top of his forehead. So why did the Brazilian opt for this crazy cut?

The story at the time was that his child couldn’t tell the difference between him and Roberto Carlos. Ronaldo then took the desperate step of ensuring that nobody would mistake him for anybody else, as who else would have such a ridiculous hairstyle?

He has since revealed he actually got the haircut as a piece of misdirection.

“My groin was hurting. I was only at 60 percent. So I shaved my head. Everybody was only talking about my injury. When I arrived in training with this haircut, everybody stopped talking about the injury.”

This is the best excuse anyone on this list has offered for their ghastly hairstyle, so we’ll let him off. Nicely played, sir.