Haaland's haircut: Man City star chops off his locks for the new season

Nbcwashington · Aug 23, 2026 · 175 words · By The Associated Press

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What to know about Haaland's haircut: Man City star chops off his locks for the new season

Erling Haaland's famed flowing locks are no more.

Claims checked 5

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

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Center100%

Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Erling Haaland's famed flowing locks are no more.

Why it matters

The Manchester City superstar has a new hairstyle for the new Premier League season: A buzz cut that went viral on social media on Sunday ahead of the team's opening match against Bournemouth.

Common ground

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Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Haaland's haircut: Man City star chops off his locks for the new season?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that In a video on Haaland's YouTube channel, Zlatan Ibrahimovic asked if the City striker had “lost a bet” when he was shown the new hairstyle?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/soccer/haaland-haircut-man-city-buzz-c…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 5 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 3

info Single Source 1

verified Verified By Reference 1

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Claim 1: “In a video on Haaland's YouTube channel, Zlatan Ibrahimovic asked if the City striker had “lost a bet” when he was shown the new hairstyle.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim is mentioned in one specific web search result ('Block Me, Erase My Number': Zlatan Ibrahimovic Trolls Erling...), but other search results for this claim are irrelevant (apartment homes, EA Sports FC). Only one news-related source confirms this specific interaction.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alexander Isak (Swedish pronunciation: [alɛkˈsǎnːdɛr ˈîːsak]; born 21 September 1999) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Liverpool and the Sweden natio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Isak

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — EA Sports FC is an association football simulation video game franchise developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. It serves as the direct successor to their former FIFA seri…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EA_Sports_FC

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Erling Braut Haaland (born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester City and the Norway national team. Widely regarded as one of t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erling_Haaland

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 2: “The Manchester City superstar has a new hairstyle for the new Premier League season: A buzz cut that went viral on social media on Sunday ahead of the team's opening match against Bournemouth.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web sources (CBC News, TikTok news, and another news source) confirm that Erling Haaland debuted a buzz cut on social media on Sunday ahead of the opening match against Bournemouth.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Iliman Cheikh Baroy Ndiaye (born 6 March 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Manchester City. Born in France, he plays for the Senegal national team.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliman_Ndiaye

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Cole Jermaine Palmer (born 6 May 2002) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Chelsea and the England national team. He is known f…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole_Palmer

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “Former City manager Pep Guardiola reacted to the haircut by saying: “You're lucky to have hair. I would love to have it!””

CORROBORATED

Three independent web search results confirm that Pep Guardiola reacted to the haircut by saying, 'You're lucky to have hair. I would love to have it!'

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025–26 season was the 131st season in the existence of Manchester City Football Club and their 24th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. In addition to the domestic league, M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–26_Manchester_City_F.C._s…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (Catalan: [ˈpɛb‿ɡwəɾðiˈɔlə]; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalan football manager and former player from Spain. He is the global ambassador of the City Football Group and was…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pep_Guardiola

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 4: “City's 2-1 win at Etihad Stadium.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided Wikipedia entries discuss general season histories for Manchester City but do not contain the specific match result of a 2-1 win against Bournemouth for the season in question. No web search results were provided for this specific claim.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2022–23 season was the 128th season in the existence of Manchester City Football Club and their 21st consecutive season in the top flight of English football, where they were competing as two-time…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_Manchester_City_F.C._s…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2023–24 season was the 129th season in the existence of Manchester City Football Club and their 22nd consecutive season in the top flight of English football, where they were competing as three-ti…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023–24_Manchester_City_F.C._s…

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Claim 5: “Haaland arrived at Etihad Stadium for the Bournemouth game wearing a cap, but that had been removed for the warm up — revealing the buzz cut.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources explicitly state that Haaland arrived at the Etihad Stadium wearing a cap and removed it during the warm-up to reveal the buzz cut.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026–27 Premier League is the 35th season of the Premier League and the 128th season of top-flight English football overall. The season began on 21 August 2026 and is scheduled to conclude on 30 M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026–27_Premier_League

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2022–23 Premier League was the 31st season of the Premier League and the 124th season of top-flight English football overall. Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest were the three promoted club…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_Premier_League

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025–26 Premier League was the 34th season of the Premier League and the 127th season of top-flight English football. The fixtures were released on 18 June 2025. The season consisted of 33 weekend…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–26_Premier_League

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.