Prepare for a wild journey into the world of football facial hair as FourFourTwo guides you through some of the most iconic beards and moustaches in the history of the game.
Players and managers alike from over the years feature here – including some of the very biggest names around.
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The ultimate football hipster, Jackson Irvine leaned right into the vibe during his time at St. Pauli (of course he’s played for football’s ultimate hipster club).
A member of Australia’s 2018 and 2022 World Cup squads, the former Hull City midfielder also has some of the coolest tattoos in the game.
A great player with great hair and a great moustache, Mario Kempes inspired Argentina to glory at their home World Cup of 1978, winning the Golden Ball and Golden Boot.
The legendary former Valencia striker wasn’t moustachioed for all that long, but he made sure his top-lip adornment was a memorable one.
Perhaps surprisingly, Gareth Southgate was England’s first ever bearded manager – and his facial hair has done a great job of distinguishing between Southgate the player and Southgate the coach.
As the latter, he steered his country to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the final of Euro 2020, all while looking very well-groomed indeed.
One of the world's best centre-backs in his prime, Gerard Pique also had one of the nicest beards in the game.
The Barcelona and Spain legend won it all with club and country, and he looked seriously suave while he was scooping up medal after medal.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Rene Higuita’s hair was a wig (it’s definitely not), but there can never have been any doubt about the authenticity of his moustache.
And the crazy Colombian goalkeeper – the man who famously pulled off a scorpion kick against England at Wembley – looks just the same now as he did during his playing days.
David Seaman looked best with a ‘tache before he entered his ponytail era, but the Arsenal and England goalkeeping icon’s lip warmer was a key part of his aesthetic regardless.
It helped that he had both when pulling off arguably the greatest save of all time: this truly mind-blowing effort to deny Sheffield United’s Paul Peschisolido in the 2003 FA Cup semi-final.
Carlos Valderrama’s peroxide afro is the greatest hairdo in football history – and the little extra perched above his top lip was almost as great.
As if that pair wasn’t striking enough, though, the cult favourite Colombian midfielder – captain of his country at all three World Cups during the 90s – rocked a cheeky little soul patch, too.
David Beckham hasn’t mixed it up with his facial hair to quite the same extent as he has with his hair hair over the years, but he sure can pull off a beard.
Not that anyone should be surprised… Whether during his career or in retirement, Becks has long been one of the game’s great trendsetters.
Clean-shaven in his Premier League days with Liverpool and Chelsea, former Portugal midfielder Raul Meireles really embrace the hipster aesthetic towards the end of his career.
Seeing out his playing days with Turkish giants Fenerbahce, the heavily inked Meireles combined a bleached buzzcut with one heck of a beard.
The Netherlands’ 1988 European Championship-winning skipper, Ruud Gullit was one of the very best footballers of his generation.
He also had some of the very best hair in the game – and, to top it off, one of the very best moustaches, the perfect accompaniment to his enviable dreadlocks.
Ok, maybe we’re cheating here – because German legend Rudi Voller probably wouldn’t place as high as 19th if he hadn’t combined his moustache with a spending perm.
But do we care? Not one bit – a moustache is only as good as the hair which accompanies it (can we copyright that?).
Google ‘Mo Salah without beard’. It just doesn’t look right, does it? Nope, the Liverpool and Egypt legend just has to have one.
And when he does, the multiple Premier League Golden Boot winner seems to take great care of it, it makes for the perfect complement to his mop of dark, fuzzy hair.
Simply majestic to watch at his mesmerisingly metronomic best, Andrea Pirlo’s enviable locks made him one of the coolest men in football.
But then he grow a beard, and with it came an added authority (as if he wasn’t already among the world’s very best deep-lying playmakers at his peak).
Notorious for his, er, antics on the pitch, Sergio Ramos has never looked more terrifying than when he really let loose with his beard.
At one point during the World Cup and Euros-winning Spanish defender’s Real Madrid ways, it was starting to consume his face – which was emblematic of his ‘no cares given’ attitude to the game, really.
Tim Howard takes the honour of the greatest beard ever grown by a Premier League goalkeeper, and it took him from relatively baby-faced arrival at Manchester United to grizzled veteran at Everton.
Mind you, the former USA international was clean-shaven when he joined the elite group of Prem ‘keepers to get on the scoresheet, netting for Everton against Bolton Wanderers in 2012 courtesy of a wind-assisted goal-kick.
One of the most dashing chaps in the modern game, Olivier Giroud has never been anything less than meticulously well-groomed.
That goes for the big Frenchman’s hair and his borderline outrageously neat beard – which he just looks totally wrong without, to be honest (come on – is this even the same guy?).
Devastatingly handsome Sweden legend Olof Mellberg is another member of the ‘great Premier League beards’ club – and the ex-Aston Villa defender has kept his facial fuzz well into retirement.
In fact, it’s probably better now than it ever was during his playing days (maybe coaching gives you more time in the bathroom in the morning – who knows).
Just about the only thing missing from Thierry Henry’s glittering playing career was a nice, thick beard.
He had a bit of one going on during his brief loan return to Arsenal from the New York Red Bulls in 2012, but the Frenchman has hit new follicular heights since hanging up his boots.
Lionel Messi does not have the best facial hair in football – he can’t be number one in everything – but he stills comes out pretty well in that department.
It’s been a long time since the GOAT was clean-shaven (now, there’s an interesting image); maybe the beard made him even greater than he might have been without it? Hmm.
Managers of the world: be more Nuno Espirito Santo. Grow a beard for extra managerial wisdom (or just because it looks blimmin’ great).
The former Tottenham, Wolves and Porto boss was quite iconic when the grey lower half markedly protruded from his face and emphasised his fantastic jawline.
Consistently moustachioed, Gennaro Gattuso mixed it up with the beard element of his facial hair – although the Italian midfield terrier usually incorporated some sort of goatee.
The AC Milan legend usually paired it with slightly messy long hair, but he did go for a buzzcut at one point – and the ‘tachetee’ (no one’s ever called it that, but maybe we can start a thing) remained.
With a moustache that magnificent, Shep Messing could have been a Beatle or a pornstar; in the end, he was neither.
Nope, instead, he played in goal for a string of NASL teams (including the brilliantly named Oakland Stompers) and earned one cap for the USA, before going on to enjoy a successful career in broadcasting.
If you’re going to bleach your hair hair, you might as well bleach your facial hair too, right? Well, that was clearly Rigobert Song’s logic.
The Cameroon great – former captain of his country and later manager – went all out with this utterly iconic look, which he showed off at the 2010 World Cup.
Graeme Souness with a nice, bushy moustache was the best version of Graeme Souness and we won’t hear any different.
The legendary Liverpool midfield hardman captained the Reds and Scotland while looking just ever so slightly like a pornstar. And he kept the luscious lip warmer well into his managerial career.
You could be forgiven for not having heard of Michael Bostwick: the midfielder has never played any higher than the third tier of English football.
But you must have seen his beard. Come on, how could anyone possibly miss this follicular wonder of caveman proportions? The long hair, too!
George Best’s beard enhanced what was already an utterly iconic aesthetic. One of the best players of all time, the Manchester United and Northern Ireland great was also one of the best-looking – let’s not beat around the bush.
And when he complemented his quintessentially 70s locks with some tidy facial foliage, well… The results speak for themselves.
He shared his name with the Greek philosopher; iconic Brazilian midfielder Socrates had to have a beard.
Capped 60 times by his country, starring at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, he was instantly recognisable for his goatee-moustache combo (and the very stylish hairband keeping his flowing locks in place, of course).
It was a sad day indeed when Vicente del Bosque shaved off his famous walrus moustache – the one with which he coached Spain to 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 glory.
He’d had the wonderful facial embellishment since his playing days at Real Madrid back in the 70s, and he might just have been the last top-level manager to sport such a masterpiece.
Roy Keane has been pretty much equally uncompromising as a player and as a pundit – but if there’s one thing which really differentiates between his two guises, it’s the beard.
He often had a little bit of facial hair going on during his Manchester United days, but the Irish hardman’s proper beard (which briefly became a moustache) is something else entirely – ranking top of FFT’s definitive countdown of his various looks.
If we didn’t know better, we’d say Abel Xavier much preferred blond over his natural hair colour… And, well, he wasn’t going to miss out his beard, was he?
The eccentric ex-Portugal, Liverpool and Everton defender had some quirky styles going on over the course of his career, but he was most recognisable for what resembled a mini lion’s mane encircling his mouth.
At last, we come to the greatest moustache in football history – that which belonged to Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning star Rivellino.
We say ‘belonged’; he’s kept it long into retirement. And, to be fair, why on Earth wouldn’t he? Every bloke wishes they could look this iconic, whether they admit it or not.
Now, that is a goatee. Alexi Lalas, in all his ginger glory takes the crown for the most iconic football facial hair.
It made him the most recognisable player on the USA team which reached the last 16 of their home World Cup in 1994, and we can’t fathom why he eventually decided to get rid of it. Truly a work of art.
