We have reached a most significant point in the annals of football history. After over four decades spent in each other’s company, Vicente del Bosque has parted company with his wonderful moustache.
The 67-year-old shocked everybody by arriving at the 2018 Men’s Health Gala in Madrid on Tuesday with a freshly deforested upper lip — a sight unseen in more than 40 years.
By his own volition, Del Bosque has been paired with “El Bigoton” (“The Big Moustache”) since around 1975, first growing it during his first stint at Real Madrid, back in his playing days, as was de rigueur at the time.
But that era has now officially ended, with reports in Spain saying he has got rid of the face fuzz in support of Movember — the annual charity initiative in which awareness and money is raised for men’s health issues, though usually by men growing moustaches rather than shaving them off.
Vicente del Bosque’s time as player and coach at Real Madrid yielded seven Liga titles and six European Cups/Champions Leagues.
As well as the lofty highs enjoyed together over the years, Del Bosque’s famously imposing facial hair was also said to have cost him his job as Los Blancos manager in 2003, mere hours after winning La Liga.
As the story goes, club president Florentino Perez decided there and then that he wanted a more “sophisticated” coach in the Real dugout heading into the new season rather than the “traditional” figure of Del Bosque.
Of course, it was Del Bosque and his glorious ‘tache that went on to bigger and better things with his appointment as Spain manager in 2008.
He duly went on to win a World Cup (2010) and a European Championship (2012) with El Bigoton still sitting proud and true all the while.
Spain’s World Cup triumph of 2010 came in between glory at the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.
Indeed, asked ahead of 2010 World Cup if he would shave it off if Spain won, Del Bosque supposedly replied: “No, I’d get straight to work for Euro 2012, but always with the moustache on my face.”
He did, and he went and won that too.
So alas, we are left to bid a fond farewell and a hearty muchas gracias to the most successful footballing moustache of a generation, if not all of all time.
Adios, El Bigoton.
But which, if any, of today’s coaches should take up the mantle and become the moustachioed manager? Here’s how some of the Premier League’s top bosses might look. Have a look and vote for for which one you think wears it best:
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