Haaland's haircut: Man City star chops off his locks for the new season

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Erling Haaland's famed flowing locks are no more.

The Manchester City superstar has a new hairstyle for the new Premier League season: A buzz cut that went viral on social media on Sunday ahead of the team's opening match against Bournemouth.

The Norway striker has become one of the most easily distinguishable sport stars in recent years because of his long hair.

In a video on Haaland's YouTube channel, Zlatan Ibrahimovic asked if the City striker had “lost a bet” when he was shown the new hairstyle.

“You gonna be faster now, or what?” Ibrahimovic said.

Former City manager Pep Guardiola reacted to the haircut by saying: “You're lucky to have hair. I would love to have it!”

Haaland arrived at Etihad Stadium for the Bournemouth game wearing a cap, but that had been removed for the warmup — revealing the buzz cut.

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Manchester City's Erling Haaland reacts during the FA Community Shield final soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester City in Cardiff, Wales, Sunday, Aug.16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland warms up prior to the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth in Manchester, England, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland warms up prior to the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth in Manchester, England, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland warms up prior to the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth in Manchester, England, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities arrested 72 people suspected of starting some of the forest and peatland fires as huge blazes in central and west Indonesia triggered choking haze.

Indonesia has been battling fires driven by an intensifying El Niño pattern and a prolonged dry season, generating dense smoke that crossed into Malaysia, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB.

Fires are a regular problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighboring countries.

Plantation owners and traditional farmers often start fires to clear land for farming, said Mohammad Irhamni, director of special crimes at the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency.

The arson suspects were being investigated in connection with 89 forest and land fire cases across five provinces on the island of Borneo and four on Sumatra, Irhamni said.

He said most of the suspects were accused of deliberately burning land to clear areas for plantations at lower cost. Investigators were still tracing financial records to determine whether companies financed or ordered the land clearing, signaling the probe could expand beyond those arrested.

“We will not stop at the perpetrators on the ground,” Irhami said in a news conference in the capital, Jakarta, on Sunday. “We will determine who benefited from these activities and who was ultimately behind them.”

The suspects face charges that carry penalties ranging from hefty fines to prison terms of up to 15 years, he said.

Blazes on Sunday blanketed parts of Borneo, the world’s third-largest island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Indonesia administers about three-quarters of the island, where the country’s Environment Ministry recorded more than 3,700 hot spots on Sunday.

BNPB chief Suharyanto said fire activity had increased in West, Central and South Kalimantan provinces on Borneo, where many blazes worsen due to peatlands, prolonging haze in several areas.

“Land that appears extinguished on the surface may still contain embers underneath, so sufficient rainfall is crucial to rewet the peat and fully suppress the fires,” said Suharyanto, who, like many Indonesians, uses a single name.

The western island of South Sumatra also battled blazes, with more than 1,700 hot spots detected on Sunday, causing choked haze and reducing visibility to only 10 meters (33 feet) in some areas, the ministry said.

Cloud-seeding operations resumed over Kalimantan on Sunday, deploying 30 helicopters for water-bombing and aerial patrol missions over Kalimantan and another 22 helicopters covering Sumatra.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has suffered severe smoke from the blazes, with its eastern state of Sarawak among the hardest hit. One district recorded “very unhealthy” air quality Friday, while eight others posted unhealthy readings, prompting the closure of nearly 600 schools and affecting about 200,000 students, the Sarawak government said.

A man is silhouetted against the haze from wildfires that blankets Musi River in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Fajri)

People walk along the Ampera Bridge as haze from wildfires blankets the city of Palembang, in South Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Fajri)

In this aerial photo released by Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, smoke billows as a wildfire rages through a peatland forest in Bulungan, North Kalimantan, Indonesia. (BNPB via AP)

A boat cruises on the Kapuas River as haze from wildfires blankets the city of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Stefanus Taman)

Motorists ride on a road as haze from wildfires blankets the city of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Stefanus Taman)

In this aerial photo released by Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, smoke billows as a wildfire rages through a peatland forest in Bulungan, North Kalimantan, Indonesia. (BNPB via AP)