How Famously Bald Footballers Looked Back When They Had Hair

Zinedine Zidane, Josep Guardiola, Pierluigi Collina
Zinedine Zidane, Josep Guardiola, Pierluigi Collina / Graham Chadwick/Getty Images
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Football's suspension has seen plenty of players try new hairstyles. Some have looked good, and some have looked very, very bad.

N'Golo Kanté and Ashley Young both showed us what they look like with hair, but there are plenty of famous bald players who never took the chance to let their hair down again. Never fear, we're here to give those luscious locks one last chance to shine.

Here are 12 famous bald players and how they looked back when they had hair.


Fabien Barthez

l'équipe de football de l'Olympique de M
l'équipe de football de l'Olympique de M / GEORGES GOBET/Getty Images

By the time he joined Manchester United in 2000, Fabien Barthez was already rocking the bald look. However, anyone who saw him in action for Marseille beforehand will have caught a glimpse of what he looked like with hair.

If he'd have kept his hair, we wouldn't have been blessed with one of the best (and by best, I mean worst) nicknames of all time - The Divine Bald One.


Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane / Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Back when he was strutting his stuff for Cannes and turning out for France's youth sides, Zinedine Zidane used to glide around the pitch with a full head of hair.

As he grew older, his hair grew shorter, and now the current Real Madrid boss is as bald as they come.


Arjen Robben

 - "FC Groningen"
- "FC Groningen" / VI-Images/Getty Images

How can Arjen Robben look both 18 and 65 at the same time?

By the time the Dutchman joined Chelsea in 2004, it was already pretty obvious that Robben's hair wouldn't be with us for too much longer. He tried to hold on during his time with Real Madrid, before eventually accepting defeat during his time with Bayern Munich.


Martin Škrtel

FIFA 2006 World Cup Playoff: Slovakia v Spain
FIFA 2006 World Cup Playoff: Slovakia v Spain / Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Look what the stress of playing in the Premier League did to poor Martin Škrtel. He was rocking this mullet just two years before he sealed his move to Liverpool in 2008.

Since leaving Anfield, Škrtel has brought back his hair, but while he was in England, he made a point of shaving his head to look as terrifying as possible. In his defence, that definitely worked.


Esteban Cambiasso

Cast your eyes to the right of this picture from back in 1997 and you'll see a fresh-faced Esteban Cambiasso celebrating an Argentina Under-20 victory.

By the time he made it back to Europe in 2002, his hair was gone and it was never to be seen again.


Younès Kaboul

Middlesbrough v Tottenham Hotspur
Middlesbrough v Tottenham Hotspur / Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Yet another to opt for the bald look during his time in England, Younès Kaboul's choice of hairstyle when he first arrived in England wasn't exactly the most popular.

The Frenchman opted to shave it all off when he made the move to Portsmouth in 2008, and by the time he returned to Tottenham two years later, it was nothing but a memory - a horrifying, nightmarish memory.


Pep Guardiola

Josep Guardiola of Barcelona
Josep Guardiola of Barcelona / Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Manager Pep Guardiola has been rocking his bald-headed brilliance for a while now, but that wasn't the case back when he was a player.

When he was winning six La Liga titles on the pitch for Barcelona, Guardiola decided to let his hair down. He kept it during the early days of his managerial career before pulling the trigger towards the end of his time at Camp Nou.


Brad Friedel

Brad Friedel
Brad Friedel / Getty Images/Getty Images

If you can peel your eyes away from that interesting shirt, you'll find former goalkeeper Brad Friedel in all his hairy glory.

His hair did make it over to England but was rarely seen as he spent most of his time with Liverpool sat on the bench. By the time he started shining for Blackburn Rovers, it was gone.


Andrés Iniesta

Andres Iniesta of Barcelona
Andres Iniesta of Barcelona / David Rogers/Getty Images

For the majority of his career, Andrés Iniesta has always had some sort of hair, but it's been a long time since we've seen him sporting these kinds of waves.

His hair began to get shorter and shorter until 2008, when the Barcelona icon took the plunge and got the clippers out.


Roberto Carlos

Roberto Carlos Brazil 1993
Roberto Carlos Brazil 1993 / Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Scientists have (not) proven that Roberto Carlos' free kick against France in 1997 wouldn't have been possible if he still had hair.

Just think of all the money he saved not having to pay for perms anymore.


Henrik Larsson

Dutch Eredivisie - Feyenoord
Dutch Eredivisie - Feyenoord / VI-Images/Getty Images

One of the biggest changes in the history of football hair has to have been from Henrik Larsson. Towards the end of his time with Celtic

Just as he entered the global spotlight with moves to Barcelona and Manchester United, the Swede chose to chop off his iconic dreadlocks in favour of a more streamline look, and we're still not over it.


Clarence Seedorf

Dutch Eredivisie - "PSV v Ajax"
Dutch Eredivisie - "PSV v Ajax" / VI-Images/Getty Images

That PSV player is clearly pretty shocked to see Clarence Seedorf with hair.

Older fans will remember the Dutchman's flowing dreadlocks, but Seedorf chose to do without for the second half of his career. The majority of his ten-year spell with AC Milan was spent bald, and he's been rocking that look ever since.


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