Al-Ain’s Caio becomes latest UAE league player to receive fine for ‘unethical haircut’

LONDON: Players in the UAE’s Arabian Gulf League might start thinking twice about splashing the cash on fancy hairdos after Al Ain’s Brazilian player Caio was the latest player to be fined for sporting an "unethical haircut" during a recent game.


The Brazilian midfielder, who joined the UAE side in 2016, was fined AED1,000 ($272) by the UAE FA’s disciplinary committee for the haircut.


It comes just a week after the federation punished Moroccan Murad Batna of Al Wahda with a similar fine for exactly the same offense.
And the duo are not the first players to fall foul of the AGL’s strict rules on haircuts.
The highest profile case involved Ghana’s former Sunderland forward Asamoah Gyan who was also found guilty of having “unethical hair” under UAE FA guidelines last year.
The 31-year-old Ghanian was one of 46 players found to have breached the rules on inappropriate hairstyles in a league where referees are responsible for deciding whether a player’s hairstyle is in keeping with the “country’s cultural norms.”


Middle East football expert Shuaib Ahmed told Arab News: “These type of cuts with the side of the head shaved are not aligned with the country’s cultural norms. It came up last season and since then, the league committee have started taking it seriously.”
It happens in other Middle East countries too, such as Saudi Arabia. Back in 2012, Waleed Abdullah was told to cut his “un-Islamic” hair by the referee before being allowed on the pitch to play for his side Al Shabab.