When a World Cup Team Needs a Trim, the Barbershop Comes to Them

Maram Hammadi is very good at small talk.As the owner of Jazz Barbershop just north of Seattle, Hammadi often talks soccer with his customers, who know well that he and his crew of barbers are big fans.The barbershop even hosts a pickup game nearby every Sunday for clients and staff.But when Mohamed Salah, the star captain of the Egyptian national team, sat down for a trim ahead of a World Cup game last month, Hammadi was at a loss for words.

Instead, Salah peppered Hammadi with questions about his life.“You know when you speak to your dad and you feel like you’re talking to a mentor, and whatever he says you use it as an education? It felt the same,” Hammadi said in an interview this week.It was the moment of a lifetime for Hammadi, 34, who grew up playing on dirt fields in Iraq before fleeing the country during the Iraq war.He arrived in Spokane, Wash., in 2012 as a refugee when he was 18.Now, he and three other barbers — all of Middle Eastern descent — were giving the entire Egyptian national team a trim before their 2026 World Cup debut against Belgium.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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