The ex-Chelsea star Marc Cucurella’s World Cup win is personal in ways nobody fully knew

When Marc Cucurella lifted the World Cup trophy at MetLife Stadium last Sunday, millions of people noticed the hair. They always do. The long, untamed curls that have made him one of the most recognisable figures in world football.

There they were, bouncing with every stride as he celebrated one of the greatest nights of his life. But the reason the ex-Chelsea star keeps his hair exactly as it is has nothing to do with fashion, identity or even superstition.

It is about a little boy named Mateo and making sure his father is never invisible to him.

Marc Cucurella’s son Mateo, the pitch and the hair that makes it possible

Cucurella keeps his hair distinctive because it makes it easier for his autistic son Mateo to recognise him. Cucurella and partner Claudia Rodriguez have spoken about the experience of learning about Mateo’s autism, describing the months of confusion before the diagnosis.

In an interview, Cucurella recalled what a professional told them: “Okay, your kid is autistic, but the parents are not ready with this. So we need to learn a lot.” Claudia added: “Yeah, probably Mateo teaches us a lot as well. You have to think about Mateo all the time.”

On a football pitch, surrounded by players in matching kits, Mateo struggled to find his father. The hair changed that. Cucurella said his son finds it easier to identify him during matches because of his long, messy hair. It’s a simple, practical act of love worn in front of millions.

After the World Cup final, Cucurella celebrated with Claudia in a reel that circulated widely. It was a moment of private joy made briefly public, a couple who have navigated something hard together arriving at a night like this.

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The hair has become the shorthand for everything Cucurella represents, the underdog energy, the relentless pressing, the left-back who cost Chelsea €65 million and was mocked for it before becoming a world champion.

Cucurella once joked he would shave his head before joining Real Madrid and then signed for them this summer, presumably with the curls fully intact and the irony fully appreciated. He dyed the hair red when Spain won Euro 2024. He kept it wild when they won the World Cup.

And somewhere in a stadium in New Jersey, or on a television screen at home, a little boy with autism looked at the pitch and found his father immediately. That is what the hair is for, that has always been what it was for.