David Beckham: Hairstyles throughout 30 years in photos

The new Netflix original documentary series Beckham premiered on Oct. 4, 2023 and follows the life and career of one of the most famous soccer players of all time David Beckham. Since his rise to fame in the 1990s, Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girls star and fashion designer Victoria, have been frequent tabloid fixtures.

In the four-episode docuseries, the couple, who have been married since 1999 and share four children together, talk about the 2003 rumors surrounding the soccer player’s alleged infidelity for the first time, while also looking back at Beckham’s various achievements in his ever-changing and successful career. He’s been from London to LA and back again.

But one of the other things about David Beckham that his been as ever-changing as his career as a soccer star is his hairstyle. Off the field, Beckham became known for his sense of style. He has modeled underwear and has his own cologne line among other endeavors. Let’s look back of some of his most iconic hairstyles throughout the years.

1993

Look how cute he is! Back in 1991, at the age of 16, Beckham signed to Manchester United as a trainee, which would mark the beginnings of his soccer career. In the above photo in 1993, he’s around 18 years old and playing a youth game for Manchester United. He’s sporting his naturally dark blonde-ish brown hair with shaved edges and pin-straight tendrils up top.

1998

By 1998, Beckham’s career had fully taken off, and as he became more recognized, he clearly started to have some fun with his hair. In the above photo from the late ’90s, his hair has been bleached platinum blonde, though the shorter bottom layer has been left his natural brown. He’s also displaying the very-’90s center-part heartthrob look.

2001

David and Victoria Beckham (then known as Victoria Adams) began dating in 1997 after the Spice Girls singer came to one of his games. After his proposal in January 1998, the pair welcomed their first child, son Brooklyn, in March 1999 before getting married in July 1999. As the father of a two year old and with another son on the way in September 2002, Beckham wore one of many buzzcut looks from his career for Red Nose Day in 2001.

2002

By the summer of 2002, Beckham’s hair had grown out and he began wearing it on the field in a mohawk. Like his buzzcuts, it’s the first of many bold mohawk looks he would try out. He even shaved his head into a mohawk, which became one of his most memorable hairstyles to a leave a mark on popular culture.

2003

In September 2002, David and Victoria welcomed their second child, son Romeo, and Beckham’s soccer career was still thriving. As for his hair, it was one of his most daring years yet, with one of 2003’s hairstyle highlights being a longer look. He had shoulder-length blonde hair toward the end of 2003, the first a few longer looks he would later sport, too. This was also the year that the affair rumors began to swirl around the athlete, and the pair open up about the effects the rumors had on their marriage in the Netflix docuseries.

2007

By 2007, David and Victoria were the parents of three sons, with Cruz being born in 2005, and David’s career saw some changes taking place. He announced his departure from Real Madrid and later signed to LA Galaxy, marking the Beckhams’ move to the United States. In the midst of the changes, Beckham had a number of hairstyles, including another buzzcut, but a favorite from this era of his career is the simple hairdo in platinum bleach blonde. Can’t go wrong with a classic!

2009

In 2009, Beckham played on loan for AC Milan but also returned to the LA Galaxy in Los Angeles, and this era of his career again came with an unforgettable hair look. Rocking a mullet before they came back in style in the 2020s, Beckham shaved the sides of his head, keeping the top and back a bit on the longer and on the unkempt side with some blonde highlights. He was way ahead of his time with this one! You can probably see many athletes and musicians with this hairstyle now.

2011

In 2011, the LA Galaxy won the MLS Cup, but that wasn’t even the most important event to happen that year in the world of Beckham. David and Victoria welcomed their fourth child, daughter Harper, in July. As for David’s hairstyle, that year and a few more of his final years in the sport, he had a big moment with a natural-colored center part with a thin headband.

2015

Back in 2013, Beckham retired from playing professional soccer, but he’s maintained his place as a popular figure in pop culture. In 2015, he remained one of the most-followed athletes on social media, and even to this day, the soccer legend boasts almost 84 million followers on Instagram and counting. Following his retirement, Beckham rocked a very stylish slicked back hairstyle.

2017

If you thought he was finished with trying new things with his hair, Beckham would surprise you in 2017. Mirroring his 2003 hairstyle, the retired soccer star again had longer hair, which he sometimes opted to pull up into a bun as seen in the photo above.

2023

And that brings us to October 2023 at the red carpet premiere of his Netflix documentary series. After a few years of sticking to a similar look to the one he had 2015, these days, Beckham is again going for one of his classic buzzcuts. He’s not bleach blonde right now, but don’t count the 48-year-old out! He’s been known to surprise with his hair, and he surely will plenty more times.

Watch all four episodes of Beckham now on Netflix.