There’s more than one way to score in soccer
If you are at the top of your game, soccer may just be the industry to break into — and I don’t mean as a football player. Among the many things I have wondered about recently, while watching World Cup match after World Cup match, are the haircuts sported by top-class soccer players.
Especially my son’s beloved Neymar. Does he have his own stylist who travels with him? Who was responsible for the muchmaligned spaghetti locks, as they have been called, and later trimmed them?
Esquire.com named Neymar’s noodle look “the most offensive haircut of the World Cup”.
But regardless of what the critics say, for those who tend to the hair of iconic soccer players there is big money to be made.
In 2015, Neymar spent at least €2 000 a month on his hair. That was according to his hairdresser Wagner Tenorio, as reported by SportsJOE. Since Neymar’s eye-wateringly expensive move to Paris Saint-Germain, the cost of his haircuts is likely to have spiked.
And it turns out that, yes, Neymar does have a stylist who travels. According to Munich newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, he had his personal hairstylist flown to Rostov, in Russia, to come up with the cut he sported in Brazil’s opening draw with Switzerland in June. In the following matches, his hair had thankfully been trimmed into a more respectable style.
He can’t be the only player to have a hairdresser on hand. Given the array of sharp cuts, there must be an army of hair stylists in Russia.
But if your skill is not hair styling, there are other lucrative opportunities. What about a tattoo artist?
According to Slate, “most tattoo artists charge about $150 (R2 000) an hour. A full sleeve can take 40 hours. Bingo! $6 000, plus another $6 000 for laser removal when you hit late middle age.”
Then there are the relocation consultants who help players who have transferred from one club to another settle into their new city. Perhaps PSG should request a refund if the reports that Neymar is unhappy in France and Real Madrid is looking to purchase the player turn out to be correct. Real Madrid has denied offering a record £275million (about R4.9-billion) for the
Brazilian.
Then there is the core business of soccer, which requires doctors, physiotherapists and nutritionists. And what about the team psychologists to develop that big-match temperament?
Meanwhile, UOL Esporte reports that referees at the World Cup are paid a $70 000 retainer fee and $3 000 per match. Not sure if that would have been enough to induce me to ref the England v Colombia game, but, then again, perhaps.
And the people with flags? They earn $2 000 a match.
I reckon I could do that — lift a flag when a ball rolls over a line. Not sure what it means when they hold the flag to their left or right. But I could learn.
Of course, if you are good enough to make it as a top-class soccer player, that is a pretty good gig as well.
Neymar can’t be the only player to have a hairdresser on hand