Size Matters - What Physical Attributes Make the Best Footballers?

Professional football is one of the highest-paid sports in the world. As a result, clubs will often analyse hundreds of aspects about an individual before deciding they are right for their team.

Having the correct physical traits required to play at the top level is very important as the game is so intense. Consequently, today, there’s not as much of an extensive gap between players, as they all have to be in good shape. In the early days of the Premier League, looking back at the 90s, many players drank and ate what they wanted, leading to a broader range of physical shapes. 

However, some physical conditions cannot be controlled by fitness training, including an individual's height and age at any time during their career. This article highlights the best height, weight, and age to be a top footballer in your position.

Goalkeepers

Age

It is often thought that goalkeepers physically peak later in life, as there are many examples of top keepers playing deep into their 30s or even their 40s. Currently, Manuel Neuer (38), Yann Sommer (36), and Thibaut Courtois (32) are all first choices for top European clubs.

However, the data shows that younger goalkeepers currently perform better. In the 2023/34 season, those aged 20-24 went almost eight minutes on average longer between conceding a goal than their elder counterparts. Players such as Porto’s Diogo Costa and PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma were two of the top performers in this age bracket.

Height

Usually, goalkeepers are the tallest players on a football pitch, as they have to be able to cover the goal and come and claim high balls crossed into the box over the heads of the outfield players.

But it seems size is not that important when it comes to being a top goalkeeper, as the shortest cohort went the longest on average between conceding goals.

These men are in no way short, as 183cm is still over 6ft in height, but by goalkeeping standards, it is. Inter Milan’s Yann Sommer conceded a goal every 161 minutes last season, the best performance of any keeper for this metric, one of the short kings performing at the top level.

Weight

Weight is the one metric players and clubs can try to control or influence, but it is also a physical trait. Some people are naturally more muscular, and the taller you are, the heavier you are. Goalkeepers increasingly need to be agile and fast in the modern game, and as a result, it is unsurprising that the lightest among them are the highest performers.

Defenders

Age

It is said that some defenders age like fine wine, which is borne out in the numbers. The men in their early 30s are the top-performing defenders at the highest levels of football. In addition, the second-highest performers are in the 35-40 bracket, which is a conclusive victory for the older generation. 

Although it is important for defenders to be strong and physical, many are believed to gain a level of anticipation and calmness the more experience they garner in the game. For example, Italy and Milan legend Paolo Maldini was famous for rarely having to make a desperate tackle, as he was always in the right place, and he was still playing into his 40s.

Height

Surprisingly, the shortest defenders performed the best last season, like with the keepers. As this list incorporates all players classified as defenders rather than just centre-backs, it allows shorter, mobile full-backs to help bring the height down.

For example, Nathan Tella, 173 cm (5ft 6) tall, is usually considered a winger or even a striker. However, as he played as a full-back at times for Bayer Leverkusen in 2023/24, he is classified as a defender. When he played, his team only conceded a goal every 410 minutes on average.

Weight

Those defenders at the other end of the scale perform well when it comes to weight, as the heavy boys only conceded a goal every 82 minutes on average. However, they are not the best, as the 75-79 kg players perform top, conceding a goal every 85 minutes on average.

As this weight range has the highest number of top-level footballers, it suggests that clubs know this is the optimum weight for a top defender and try to get them there.

Midfielders

Age

Recently, some top-level young players have broken through at the top level, with the prime example being Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal, winning the European Championship with his country as a teenager before he was old enough to legally buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate with.

In recent years, Barcelona have been the kings of producing young, talented midfielders. However, the club's financial mismanagement has prevented them from signing as many ready-made talents as possible, forcing them to rely on the precocious talents in their academy,

‘La Masia’. Gavi, Fermin, Casado, and Fati have all graduated to the first team in recent years, and it seems like Yamal could be the jewel in the Catalan crown for years to come.

Height

Regarding the best height for an impressive midfielder, the shorter (but not the shortest) players performed the best in 2023/24. Players who range between 170 and 174cm in height contributed a goal or assist for their team every 439 minutes on average, almost 20 minutes fewer than the next tallest group. 

Players in this height range include prolific Barcelona winger Raphina, Leverkusen’s Amine Adli, and Roma’s attacking midfielder Paolo Dybala.

Weight

Again, the best performers for midfielders are the lighter men but not the lightest men. Like with height, the second smallest category came at the top of the rankings, while the smallest came last. When it comes to weight, those midfielders who weigh between 60 and 64 kg impressed the most last season, averaging a goal or assist every 411 minutes.

High-profile players who fit into this category are the Premier League Player of the Season, Phil Foden of Manchester City, and his teammate Bernardo Silva, who have both been top midfielders in the Premier League in recent seasons.

Forwards

Age

The golden oldies still rule the roost when scoring goals, as the biggest certified bagsmen in 2023/24 were in the over-30s category. Spearheaded by Bayern Munich’s English superstar Harry Kane, the experienced strikers averaged a goal every 325 minutes in their respective leagues. This is over 35 minutes quicker than those in the ‘prime’ of their careers in their late 20s.

The two top-performing individual forwards last season were Serhou Guirassy, who scored 28 Bundesliga goals for Stuttgart, or one every 78.86 minutes, securing him a move to Borussia Dortmund for this season. Incredibly, Harry Kane also averaged a goal every 78.86 minutes, as his 36 strikes were accomplished in more game time.

Height

One of the ways strikers often get their goals is from headers, which is easier if you are tall. This is exemplified by Peter Crouch scoring the most headed goals in Premier League history. The cult hero of English football stood at 204cm or 6’7. In 2023/34 strikers over 190cm (6’2) scored an average goal every 196 minutes. This is 100 minutes quicker than the next best-performing height range.

Erling Haaland was the top-scoring tall striker among football’s elite. The towering Norweigian scored less in 2023/24 than in his remarkable debut season at Manchester City, but this still resulted in scoring 27 league goals.

Weight

Being sizeable helps you become a top goalscorer, as the tallest and the heaviest forwards contribute the fewest minutes per goal on average. Again, the big boys took over 100 minutes fewer to score on average than the next nearest category of players.

Some of said big boys include Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk, who had a breakout season for Girona in La Liga in 2023/24, scoring 24 goals in the league to help his team qualify for the Champions League. Superb Scandinavians Victor Gyokeres and Erling Haaland also fall into this category; they scored 56 league goals between them.

Methodology

• We compiled a list of around 1,500 players from Premier League and Championship clubs and top-performing and prestigious European clubs from Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Portugal and Scotland. To qualify, players had to be amongst the top 300 for minutes played amongst all players in their respective leagues. (Full data could not be found for them all, leaving us with a list of 1,210.
• We used FBref data to collect each player's league game minutes, position, goals scored, assists made, and goals conceded. 
• We used ESPN to find the height and weight of each player. 
• We divided the players into positions and used the most applicable stat to assess their performance in 2023/24. 
• Once we had the minutes per action for each player, we grouped them into age, height, and weight ranges and averaged the number of minutes per action in each range. (Note: ranges containing fewer than 10 players were incorporated into the next nearest range of players).