Ronaldo became World Cup champion in 2002 with an unusual hairstyle, which was the result of careful calculation. A look at a legendary haircut with an ulterior motive.
Ronaldo’s success proves him right. Not just because he scored eight goals at the 2002 World Cup, not just because he beat Oliver Kahn twice in the final in Yokohama, not just because he helped the Brazilian national team to their fifth title. Ronaldo’s success also proves him right because, in the days leading up to the tournament, the world talked about his haircut time and time again.
That was his plan – and it worked.
The backstory: Ronaldo, then still playing for Inter Milan, was struggling with a groin strain. The striker admitted that he would therefore only be able to perform at 60 per cent of his capacity at the World Cup – and this admission sparked a veritable wave of concern back home. What if Ronaldo, our best player, wasn’t on form? What if he didn’t score the goals needed to succeed in Japan and South Korea? Ronaldo here, Ronaldo there: the media pounced on the story.
A bad haircut? “That’s how I got some peace and quiet”
“Everyone was talking about my injury,” Ronaldo recalled a few years later – and then explained why, at that time, he’d gone for what he himself described as a “bad haircut”: “When I turned up for training with that hairstyle, it all stopped.” All the talk about his injury, the worries. “That way I was left in peace and could focus on my rehab,” said Ronaldo.
He then shone at the World Cup. O Fenomeno led Brazil to the title – and felt vindicated in his diversionary tactic. He said he wasn’t “really proud” of his haircut; after all, it had been “very strange”. But: “It was just a good way to change the subject.” And then to do exactly what people back home expected of him: to score goals.
