The Euro 2016 of Footballers’ Hair: The Champions

6 min readJul 7, 2016

Alright my friends, the Euro 2016 is coming to an end, and three weeks of scrupulous (and, let’s be honest about this tournament, pretty selfless) observation of players’ hair styles have borne fruit: I am ready to proclaim the European Champions of Hair.

I care about nuance — this isn’t football, after all — so winners are declared by category. Let’s kick off (sorry) with one of this year’s signature looks:

#1 Bulkiest Mo-coiffe

Neil Taylor (Wales) 1–3 Stephan El Shaarawy (Italy)

And since we’re judging size:

#2 Most Impressive Facial Hair

Joey Ledley (Wales) 3–2 Aron Gunnarsson (Iceland)

Because this is the Euros and the most important thing is that we get to see as much of the beautiful game as possible, I’ll also give you the two highest-ranking third-place players: Daniele de Rossi (Italy) and Olivier Giroud (France).

And speaking of beards:

#3 The Khal Drogo Lookalike Contest

Jimmy Durmaz (Sweden) 2–3 Erkan Zengin (Sweden)

(Consequently, the Khal Drogo Team Award goes to Sweden.)

#4 The NSYNC Legacy Award

David Alaba (Austria) 2–3 Valon Behrami (Switzerland)

(Never forget.)

#5 Most LEGO Hair

Graziano Pellè (Italy) 3–2 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

#6 Most Windsor Hair

Ok, this is about general looks, not just hair. Still, with contestants like these, I couldn’t drop that bracket.

Eric Dier (England) 1–1 Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium)

#7 Most Picasso Hair

Paul Pogba (France) 5–2 Ivan Perišić (Croatia)

This one photo doesn’t do the creative prowess of Pogba’s hairdresser much justice. So have some more:

#8 The Sideshow Bob Award

The fact that there was only one contestant doesn’t make it any less deserving: give it up for Marouane Fellaini (Belgium).

#9 Most On-Pitch Hair Touching

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 5–3 Sergio Ramos (Spain)

#10 Cuddliest Off-Pitch Fluffy Coiffe

Ciprian Tătăruşanu (Romania) 2–1 Amir Abrashi (Albania)

(Don’t you just want to snuggle up in bed with it?)

#11 Most Genteel Veteran’s Look

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) 3–1 Wayne Rooney (England)

#12 Most “My WHAT? Hair?! Don’t You Know We’re At War, Young Lady?”

Gábor Király (Hungary) 3–2 Andrés Iniesta (Spain)

#13 Dopest Mohawk

Marek Hamšík (Slovakia) 3–4 Radja Nainggolan (Belgium)

Nainggolan wins this close race because, and I quote a good friend, “his is the kind of mohawk a unicorn would wear.”

#14 Fiercest Side Parting

Anthony Lopes (Portugal) 3–4 Sergio Ramos (Spain)

Judging a double side parting against a curved one is a hard task I don’t wish upon anyone. Ramos wins for elegance and ambition, but Lopes does get an extra point for apparently inspiring his teammate Ronaldo to copy his look in the semi-finals against Wales.