When looking for athletic styles, soccer players are stylish professional athletes who like to experiment with the coolest men’s hairstyles. If you want a new look, these soccer player haircuts are trendy and masculine choices for men that will create a flattering finish. Most soccer haircut styles incorporate a fade, taper or undercut on the sides and back with longer hair on top for a charming, functional look.
Whether you want a classy and timeless or bold and rebellious vibe, these modern football hairstyles are easy to achieve with some effort and the right styling products.
To find the latest trends, we’ve compiled a list of the best soccer player haircuts that will transform your look. Popular with the most famous players in the world, these cool soccer styles will show you varying examples of the hottest haircuts for men.
Soccer Player Haircuts
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi has sported numerous haircuts during his successful career, including the modern mullet, a combed-over pomp, and even a bleach-blonde faux hawk. As the years have passed, Messi has moved away from bold looks to style classic cuts. In the 2022 World Cup, Messi’s hairstyle was a textured messy and spiky comb over with a high fade.
David Beckham
David Beckham is one of the most famous soccer players in the world and has been known to pull off several stylish haircuts. From the buzz cut to the pompadour and slick back, Beckham has proven to look great in virtually any hairstyle. Most recently, Beckham has opted for a modern brush-up with a high fade. He prefers the tousled look for everyday wear, but he combs over or slicks his hair back for more formal events.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is a popular professional footballer who has become a men’s style icon with masculine short haircuts. While the comb over is his signature hairstyle, Ronaldo has experimented by styling a slick back, a hard side part, mohawk, spiky hair, mid skin fade and shaved sides. As a stylish player, CR7 can be an inspiration for guys who want the coolest modern haircuts.
Neymar
Neymar is a talented soccer player who has become well-known around the world for his sensational goals and fashionable style. In 2009, he wore a traditional short and curly look. In 2020, he dyed his locks pink and completely shaved the sides. These days, Neymar’s look is short and curly with shaved sides and a full, well-groomed beard.
Kylian Mbappé
Kylian Mbappé is France’s star footballer who tends to prefer simple athletic haircuts such as the buzz cut. In 2020, he chose to have a cropped cut with a taper fade that was dyed baby blue. These days, the famous player likes to style classy waves with a mid-fade and line. Paired with a short goatee, the look is elegant and easy to maintain.
Karim Benzema
Karim Benzema is the current striker and captain for Real Madrid. While his athletic prowess has earned him numerous accolades, he is also known for his fashionable sense of style. His classic haircut is the high and tight, which consists of a high fade starting at the temple and slightly longer hair on top. Paired with a short, full beard, the look is both sensible and sexy.
Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos is a heartthrob Spanish footballer who has worn his hair long, short, and everything in between. Back in 2012, Ramos made headlines for cutting his long, thick hair just before the Euro 2012. A little while later, he asked his barber for a Caesar cut, a short style with blunt horizontal bangs, with a temp fade. Lately, he prefers to sport a tapered quiff that is relaxed and elegant at the same time.
Zinedine Zidane
As one of the greatest soccer players of all time, Zinedine Zidane is a handsome Frenchman who likes a completely shaved head. In his younger years, he sported very thick and curly dark hair that he cut in a classic taper fade. As the years passed and he began experiencing baldness, Zidane chose to go bald. Sometimes he pairs the look with stubble, but he tends to prefer a clean-shaven look.
Mohamed Salah
Mohamad Salah is a professional Egyptian-born soccer star who styles a cool curly afro. Known to most of the world as “Mo”, Salah likes to grow out his curly hair and leave it messy for a casually chic finish. In 2020, he shocked his fans when he shared a photo of his new style. Rather than the classic afro, Mo created his own unique version of a faux hawk cut with short sides and faded edges. He fittingly dubbed it the “Mo-hican”.
Harry Kane
Harry Kane is a handsome English professional footballer with a cool and versatile haircut. Whether he’s styling a comb over taper or a layered scissor-cut with brushed back hair, Kane looks good on the field. The sides are cut short while the longer top is styled to look elegant and stylish.
Luka Modric
Luka Modric is a popular Croatian footballer who prefers his signature longer hairstyle for guys. For years, he has had long, luscious blonde locks that men and women alike found stylish. In 2014, Modric celebrated his Champions League win with a new cut, a classic taper fade with a hint of textured quiff. These days, Modric has allowed his locks to regrow. He sports a medium-length layered look with fringe that his fans seem to love.
Kevin De Bruyne
Kevin De Bruyne is a Belgian soccer star who rocks a textured crew cut with a deep side part. Currently, De Bruyne prefers a mid fade, but he has been known to wear a high fade or a taper fade at times. Because the hair on top is slightly longer, it’s a little less militant than the classic crew cut, and it pairs well with De Bruyne’s fair clean-shaven skin and hair color.
Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski is a Polish soccer captain whose personality is every bit as charming as his looks. While his hairstyle changes frequently, he’s known for sharp cuts that are almost always styled in a brush up or quiff. He’s also been known to rock lightning bolts and other designs at temple height to add a bold flair to his otherwise chic and handsome cuts.
Vinicius Junior
Vinicius Junior is a young and talented Brazilian footballer who cuts his hair twice a week to always look his best. In his short career, Junior has styled many looks including the high and tight, braids, and twists of all kinds. His medium-length faux hawk with an angular burst fade was his most talked-about cut, but now, he rocks a short crop with a high fade that is chic, clean, and easy to maintain.
Antoine Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann is a versatile French footballer with many hairstyles, ranging from his bleached-blond locks with an undercut to his pastel green buzz cut complete with a fluffy pink heart behind his ear. This professional player is always looking for bold new ways to make a statement. He even wore long double French braids during the 2021 La Liga season.
Carlos Vela
Carlos Vela is a Mexican association soccer player who has rocked numerous short and medium-length styles throughout his career. He has naturally thick and wavy hair, so it’s perfectly suited for classic short layered cuts and messier textured looks. Most recently, Carlos wears his hair in layers that he styles into a sexy tousled ‘do. Paired with a short beard and mustache, he’s one of Mexico’s biggest heartthrobs.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a talented Swedish footballer who plays for AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Off the pitch, Ibrahimovic has become known for his expensive style. When he was younger, he kept his wavy dark hair cropped just above the shoulders. As he got older, he started leaning toward the man bun. While his look has changed a little here and there, the man bun remains his signature style to this day.
Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard is a respected footballer with a classic short haircut for a ruggedly handsome look. Easy to get and style, the Belgian-born soccer player likes to wear a trimmed crew cut with a low taper on the sides. He regularly switches between a mid fade and an all-over buzz cut. This look is handsome and rugged, and it works well with facial hair.
Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli is a trendy Italian footballer who plays for the Swiss Super League’s Sion club as a striker. With a unique haircut, he’s easy to pick out on the field. Balotelli is known for sporting a frohawk with shaved sides, but the width and size of the frohawk can vary from one season to the next. He has also worn a mohawk with a pomp and a classic short afro, but the frohawk has become his signature look.
Virgil van Dijk
Virgil van Dijk is a Dutch soccer player who has fun changing up his hairstyles. He’s been known to wear a voluminous afro out on the field, but he often pulls it back into a tight, low ponytail for comfort’s sake. Now and then, he opts for a wavy bun with a subtle line up around the temples and forehead. Virgil van Dijk sports several cool and versatile styles, but due to the length, it does require some careful maintenance.
Thorgan Hazard
Thorgan Hazard sports a slightly longer variation of the classic crew cut, which makes the style look less militant and adds a bit of edgy sex appeal, instead. The hair on top is about an inch longer than the hair on the sides, and it graduates very gently for a smooth and slightly textured look thanks to his natural waves. His style may incorporate a side part or a quiff with or without facial hair.
Yannick Ferreira Carrasco
Yannick Ferreira Carrasco is a Belgian athlete who prefers to show up on the field with every hair in place. While the pompadour fade can be a little over-the-top, this style has become his signature look. A classic pomp combined with a bald fade on the sides adds contrast and height, pairing well with neat facial hair.
Gareth Bale
Gareth Bale is a gifted soccer player who has been able to pull off shorter and longer hairstyles for a timeless masculine look. With numerous haircuts throughout his career, his style often features a casual short comb over, man bun or ponytail.
Toni Kroos
Toni Kroos is a popular professional German soccer player who has become known around the world for his brawn and classic good looks. His classic haircut is easy enough to achieve and style, whether you want a slicked-back formal look or a slightly tousled casual ‘do. The hair along the ears and in the back is kept short, but the hair on top is left slightly longer. Kroos prefers to wear his hair with a deep side part brushed up and slightly back.
Olivier Giroud
Olivier Giroud is a famous French soccer player with a stylish haircut style who has been an essential part of the national team for the last decade. Although he’s usually seen sporting a comb over with a drop fade or a textured spiky style, Giroud has also rocked a classic faux hawk. These styles look great with a clean-shaven face or full beard.
Granit Xhaka
Granit Xhaka is a Swiss footballer with a clean-cut gentleman’s hairstyle that always looks elegant and timeless. He’s sported a classic crew cut and grown out his curly fringe a few times, and he even dyed his locks platinum blond just before the Euro 2020. Currently, Xhaka prefers a classic comb-over fade. When paired with a clean-shaven face, his boyish good looks steal the show.
Miguel Veloso
Miguel Veloso has mastered the larger-than-life look with his slightly messy, slightly spiky hairstyle. He keeps the sides buzzed extremely short so they blend into his beard, and the top is cut with a razor for the signature uneven and texturized look. Using some strong styling products, Miguel Veloso spikes his hair up and to the side for added volume, and he regularly lightens his locks for added highlights.
Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling has been making headlines for his uniquely bold haircuts. He’s rocked boxy braids and twists, and he even went with a super-short buzz cut with designs not long ago. These days, Raheem is best known for his voluminous burst fade mohawk.
Gianluigi Buffon
Gianluigi Buffon is a professional footballer with a manly look featuring heavy stubble and a timeless hairstyle. As one of the most respected goalkeepers of all time, Buffon continues to be a leader on the field. Back in the 90s, he was known for his medium-length middle part style with slightly tousled layers. More recently, Buffon wears slicks his hair over in a messy side part that tapers and fades into a shorter length at the sides and back. It looks phenomenal with his full beard and mustache.
Mathieu Debuchy
Mathieu Debuchy is a handsome soccer player who has garnered attention for his effortlessly chic and rugged looks. In recent years, he looks polished and proper thanks to his slick comb over paired with a closely cropped undercut. Before this cut, Debuchy rocked a spiky look complete with a high fade. These looks are much better than his 2014 shaved sides cut, which can only be described as a faux hawk faux pas.
Stephan El Shaarawy
Stephan El Shaarawy is an accomplished Italian professional footballer who stands out with a wild style. With a pronounced widow’s peak, Shaarawy works this feature into his signature faux hawk with shaved sides, making him easy to spot. In the early 2000s, Stephan burst onto the scene with one of the tallest mohawks in the game. These days, Stephan has maintained his tall spiky look, but he’s ditched the mohawk for a more flattering spiky cut with a high skin fade.
Aaron Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey used to be known for his platinum blonde slick back, but in recent years, he has decided to stop bleaching his hair and get a style that better suits his features. Ramsey’s current haircut is a classic Ivy League with a mid taper fade, which suits his face shape and facial hair perfectly.
Marco Reus
Marco Reus is a famous German soccer player who has always sported a trendy look on the pitch, with his most recent cut being a spiky fringe with a high fade. Marco is a natural redhead, so he adds blonde highlights for extra definition. Those highlights really shine when he spikes the front of his hair straight up and to the side, but it looks just as handsome when he styles it with a simple side part.
Alexis Sánchez
Alexis Sanchez is Arsenal’s forward and winger, and when he isn’t on the field, he’s comfortable posing for fashion and sports magazines. Sanchez rocks a sleek pompadour that’s just high enough to be chic, and he pairs it with a closely-cropped undercut that adds some extra visual height.
Fabian Johnson
Fabian Johnson is a professional German football player who generally plays defender and midfielder. He has had several styles that made headlines, including a classic afro, short and curly styles, and even a super-short buzz cut. These days, Fabian rocks a short buzz that’s slightly longer on the top than along the sides and back. Paired with a clean-shaven face, he looks much younger than his mid-30s.
Lukas Podolski
Lukas Podolski is a clean-cut German footballer who loves styles that require little to no maintenance. Recently, Lukas sported a modified crew cut that was just slightly longer on top than most. He has been seen wearing a classic buzz cut, and for a while, he even preferred the Ivy League look. These cuts are easy to wear and look great with his clean-shaven face.
Radamel Falcao
Radamel Falcao is a polished Colombian soccer player with thick beautiful hair. Early in his career, he sported medium-length to long styles that he kept out of his face during matches with a headband. These days, Radamel prefers a slicked-down comb over with a buzzed undercut. Sometimes he even spikes it up for attention-grabbing height.
Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez
Francisco Roman Alarcon Suarez is a professional Spanish soccer player known as “Isco” who has worn some iconic haircuts. Back in 2018, he buzzed his hair almost to the skin, but before that, he was known for the side-parted layered look that made him look incredible, especially with his short dark beard. He has even sported a French crop from time to time.
Jo Hyeon-Woo
Jo Hyeon-Woo is a talented and fashionable South Korean footballer with beautiful thick hair that can be lightened and shaped into an iconic cut. In 2018, he picked a brushed-up layered style paired with a very short undercut. These days, he wears bouncy, voluminous curls.
Filip Kostic
Filip Kostic has had many classic men’s haircuts throughout the years, ranging from a chic Ivy League look to a standard buzz cut. Most recently, Kostic looked fantastic in a slightly modified crew cut with a mid taper fade. Between the style and his clean-shaven face, he looked years younger.
Ramin Rezaeian
Ramin Rezaeian is an Iranian soccer player who likes edgy hairstyles that pair well with an undercut or shaved sides. His natural curls look slightly different based on his chosen cut and styling method, but he is currently sporting a faux hawk with shaved sides, but he has been known to wear a classic cut with a side part from time to time.
Hector Bellerin
Hector Bellerin is a Spanish professional footballer who prefers chic and bold haircut styles but never seems to keep the same look for long. Back in 2019, He wowed the world with his slicked-back layered style, but in 2022, he had grown it out long enough to fit comfortably in a man bun. Currently, he has opted for mid-length layers parted down the middle with some tousled fringe.
Miguel Almirón
Miguel Almiron is a Paraguayan soccer player who generally chooses short athletic haircuts but he has let his locks grow out on occasion. Most often, you’ll find Miguel sporting a tapered buzz and a fresh line up. When he does grow his hair longer, the natural texture in his hair makes it ideal for classic brushed-back styles. Most recently, he has been enjoying a modern and trendy version of a French crop paired with a high fade.
Popular Haircuts For Soccer Players
The most popular haircuts for soccer players are the comb over fade, textured crew cut, messy spiky hair, faux hawk undercut, modern mohawk, buzz cut and classic slick back. These cool styles are inspired by famous footballers such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Carlos Vela, Harry Kane, Luka Modric, Olivier Giroud and Stephan El Shaarawy. Most soccer players prefer short haircuts for a low-maintenance and masculine look, but some professional athletes are willing to experiment with medium to longer hair for a trendy vibe.
How To Style A Soccer Haircut
To keep your hair perfect and in place, soccer players need to use a strong pomade, gel, wax or clay. For a textured finish, apply a high-hold matte styling product to achieve a controlled natural look. To create a wet and sleek look, a hair product with a shiny finish can help you achieve the right shape and finish that will last through a game.
Famous Soccer Players with Long Hair
The most famous soccer players with long hair are Diego Maradona, Luka Modrić, Marcelo Vieira, Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Virgil Van Dijk, Hector Bellerin, Edinson Cavani, Antoine Griezmann, Jack Grealish and Martin Caceres. With long hairstyles, these talented footballers created a unique look that set them apart on and off the field.
