Top 5 bearded footballers to blend style with substance

Footballers with beards, good beards are a special breed. The ones with tremendous footballing ability to go with it are even more special and prone to being idolized. This is a celebration of the best footballers who sported a beard and long-term association with the facial feature was a necessity for these guys to feature on this list. So, the ones who just sported it briefly and then did away with them do not count. Here’s the top 5:

Olof Mellberg

The Viking cometh!

Olof Mellberg during his career came to be known as one of the most rock-steady footballers around and one of the most professional too. In an era of petulant footballers spoilt by money and fame and with inflated egos, Mellberg displayed all the qualities that most modern day footballers lack – loyalty, humility and with an excellent behavioural record – and still remaining popular.

A rugged defender never afraid to put in a tackle, Mellberg became a legend at Aston Villa where he played for over 9 seasons before joining Juventus.

Mellberg’s beard was equally famous in the footballing world. Known for his gruff look, one magazine remarked on his birthday last month, that though Mellberg was turning 36, his beard was perhaps, only 30.

Fans even reckoned that Mellberg played better with a full-grown beard rather than clean-shaven with a stubble.

For his farewell game for Villa, fans came adorning both fake and real beards as a tribute to the ‘Bearded Legend’.

He was also included in numerous compilations of ‘hottest footballers’ around and one can assume that the beard had a starring role to play in it.

ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA!

Andrea Pirlo

“It wasn’t bothering me in the summer so I let it grow. Now I don’t waste time shaving…”

That’s what the Italy and Juventus midfielder had to say about his beard which he has kept since last year.

After oozing class on the football field, Andrea Pirlo decided to keep a beard which was equally classy. One really shouldn’t be surprised though, as most things the Italian maestro touches have a classy feel to them.

With the flowing locks and the majestic beard to boot, Pirlo delving on the football, waiting to pick out a killer pass or for that matter waiting to dispatch a free-kick towards goal have class dripping all over them.

Pirlo has a love for wine which has resulted in him owning a vineyard. Just like the wine, Pirlo too seems to get better with age.

George Best

George Best needs no introduction and neither does his beard.

‘Bestie’ as he was popularly known, won European Cups, nutmegged Johan Cruyff, drank like there was no tomorrow and wooed the most beautiful models, all while sporting an ultra-cool beard.

The beard was so natural that it was more the result of an unkempt and lazy attitude and less the result of styling.

Known as the greatest player to ever don a Northern Ireland jersey, Best had pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goal-scoring and the ability to beat defenders and go past them at will. Combined with his charisma, Best became the first true celebrity footballer, even before David Beckham arrived on the scene.

Best though fell victim to alcoholism, a battle that he fought throughout much of his life, but of which he ended up on the losing side.

He died in 2005 at the age of 59 due to complications from the immunosuppressive drugs that he had been advised to take. He was remembered at his funeral by mourners as “the beautiful boy with a beautiful game”.

You can add “beautiful beard” to that.

Daniele De Rossi

Rome’ bearded gladiator Daniele De Rossi is into his 11th year in international football and has become somewhat of a cult figure for Italy and Roma, not just for his crunching tackles and laser-like passes, but also for his style and colourful personality.

Much of that is down to De Rossi’s bearded appearance which has developed a sort of cult following. Club legend Francesco Totti, at 37, is still the top dog at the Stadio Olimpico, but De Rossi is on his way to becoming a legend himself with his fierce loyalty to the club and level of commitment on the pitch.

Beard enthusiast De Rossi has also impressed fashionistas around the world with his now trademark kits for both club and country, where his shirts have a short right sleeve and long left sleeve.

De Rossi also has a huge fan following among female fans as he’s viewed as a sex symbol by many and plus, he’s got the game to boot.

Can’t beat that!

Socrates

It would be entirely unpardonable and unbecoming of any discussion featuring bearded geniuses to be complete without the mention of perhaps the coolest beard of them all.

Not too surprisingly, the man who sported it happened to be one of the coolest ever chaps to kick a football around the ground.

Instantly recognizable from his beard and headband, Socrates became the “symbol of cool for a whole generation of football supporters” in the late seventies and early eighties.

A brilliant playmaker known for his superb through passes and on-field vision, Socrates was an imposing physical presence at 6’4” and is arguably the greatest player to have never won the World Cup till date while playing for the greatest team to have never won the World Cup!

Being a two-footed player, he was a prolific goal-scorer. But it doesn’t stop there.

Socrates was also a qualified doctor, a rare achievement for a professional footballer. The Brazilian great was many other things too besides being a footballer – an intellectual, an activist, a columnist – with an equally deep love for cigarettes and alcohol.

It would be safe to say that Socrates was not your stereotypical footballer.