With his hair pulled back, Haaland had developed a severe, imposing look that complemented his physical presence on the football pitch.
With the short haircut, his face suddenly appeared much younger.
The footballer was exactly the same.
The visual impression was not.
Former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola also reacted during a video call. Instead of criticizing the new style, Guardiola joked that Haaland was lucky simply to have hair and said he would love to have it himself. The Premier League’s official website and ABC both documented Guardiola’s response.
The collection of reactions helped the video travel far beyond Manchester City’s normal audience.
Football supporters were debating whether they preferred the long-haired “Viking” version of Haaland or his new cropped appearance. Memes quickly appeared. Some fans mourned the disappearance of the ponytail. Others welcomed the change.
Haaland seemed comfortable enough with the decision.
After the initial reveal, he posted photographs documenting different stages of the cut with another playful caption:
“Short hair don’t care.”
The Premier League highlighted those images on its official website.
More Than a Haircut in the Age of Football Celebrity
The reaction also illustrated how dramatically the role of elite footballers has changed.
Thirty years ago, a famous player changing his haircut might have appeared in newspaper photographs the following morning.
Today, the transformation can become a coordinated global media event before the player has even walked onto the pitch.
Haaland uploaded the footage himself. Supporters immediately reacted. Football accounts reposted it. News organizations wrote stories. Teammates and former players became part of the content.
By kickoff, millions of supporters already knew what Manchester City’s striker looked like.
The haircut therefore became another example of the increasingly blurred line between professional athlete and global entertainment personality.
Players such as David Beckham helped demonstrate decades ago that footballers could become fashion and cultural figures as well as athletes. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi then grew into enormous global brands during the social-media era.
Haaland belongs to the generation that came after them — one in which players do not need to wait for newspapers or television channels to present their personalities to supporters.
They can do it themselves.
And Haaland has proven particularly effective at creating an online persona that contrasts with the ruthless character supporters see during matches.
On the pitch, he can appear almost machine-like: constantly studying defenders, waiting for space and attacking the penalty area.
Away from it, he frequently embraces jokes, unusual photos, memes and deliberately simple captions.
Even Manchester City’s official account responded to his haircut reveal with a word that has become associated with Haaland’s own social-media style:
“Nice.”
The Premier League noted the exchange when covering the new haircut.
It is a small example of something important about modern celebrity. Haaland does not need to carefully explain every decision.
Sometimes a haircut, four words and a camera are enough.
The New Hair Faced an Immediate Football Test
Of course, supporters quickly found another question to ask.
Would Zlatan’s warning come true?
Had Haaland really cut away his strength?
Manchester City’s first Premier League match of the 2026/27 campaign offered an amusing coincidence.
City beat Bournemouth 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, but Haaland did not score. According to the Premier League, it was the first time in his Manchester City career that he had failed to score in his opening Premier League appearance of a season.