List of Tallest Football Players
While successful football (soccer) players can come in all shapes and sizes, certain physical attributes, such as height, can play an important part in their performance. Height and arm span reach are particularly important for goalkeepers. Around the pitch, taller players with a good leap and positional skills have an advantage in overhead contests.
Tall goalkeepers have a greater reach Tall football players are generally goalkeepers or forwards. Comparing World Cup players (2002-2018), the goalies were on average the tallest, the midfielders the shortest. At the 2018 World Cup, the height of the goalkeepers ranged from 179 to 201cm.
The tallest player to play professional football is 2.1 meters (6 ft 10.5 in) tall German Simon Bloch Jorgensen, a goalkeeper in 2022 playing for Waltham Abbey in Essex. Another very tall player is Belgian Kristof Van Hout at 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) who plays for Belgium club Lommel.
Below we have listed the tallest professional players, which includes players from club leagues around the world, also the tallest to represent their country, and the tallest to play at the World Cup. These heights are as listed online. We have tried to get the most reliable measure, but all the measurements may not be accurate.
See also our lists of the shortest footballers.
Tallest Professional Football Players
| Rank | Ht (cm) | Ht (feet/inch) | Player | Nationality | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 210 | 6' 10.5" | Simon Bloch Jorgensen | Germany | GK |
| 2 | 208 | 6' 10" | Kristof Van Hout | Belgium | GK |
| 208 | 6' 10" | Paul Miller | Scotland | FW | |
| 4 | 206 | 6' 9" | Tonny Brogaard | Denmark | GK |
| 5 | 206 | 6' 9" | Tomáš Holý | Czechia | GK |
| 6 | 206 | 6' 9" | Kyle Hudlin | England | FW |
| 7 | 205 | 6' 9" | Vanja Iveša | Croatia | GK |
| 205 | 6' 9" | Yang Changpeng | China | FW | |
| 205 | 6' 9" | Daniel Müller | Germany | GK | |
| 10 | 204 | 6' 8.5" | Tor Hogne Aaroy | Norway | FW |
| 204 | 6' 8.5" | Jason Mooney | Northern Ireland | GK | |
| 12 | 203 | 6' 8" | Lacina Traoré | Ivory Coast | FW |
| 203 | 6' 8" | Costel Pantilimon | Romania | GK | |
| 203 | 6' 8" | Øyvind Hoås | Norway | FW | |
| 203 | 6' 8" | Even Iversen | Norway | FW | |
| 203 | 6' 8" | Kjell Petter Opheim | Norway | GK |
Data Source: the height data is taken from the player's profile on Wikipedia when listed, otherwise from other various sources online (Nov 2022)
Tallest International Football Players
| Rank | Ht (cm) | Ht (feet/inch) | Player | Nationality | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 203 | 6' 8" | Lacina Traoré | Ivory Coast | FW | national team 2012–2015 |
| 203 | 6' 8" | Costel Pantilimon | Romania | GK | national team 2008–2017 | |
| 3 | 202 | 6' 7.5" | Stefan Maierhofer | Austria | FW | national team 2008–2011 |
| 202 | 6' 7.5" | Nikola Žigić | Serbia | FW | 2006 & 2010 World Cup | |
| 202 | 6' 7.5" | Zeljko Kalac | Australia | GK | 2006 World Cup, national team 1992–2006 | |
| 202 | 6' 7.5" | Jan Koller | Czechia | FW | 2006 World Cup |
Data Source: the height data is taken from the player's profile on Wikipedia when listed, otherwise from other sources online (Nov 2022)
Tallest Players at the World Cup
| Rank | Ht (cm) | Ht (feet/inch) | Player | Nationality | Position | World Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 202 | 6 ' 7.5" | Nikola Žigić | Serbia | FW | 2006 & 2010 |
| 202 * | 6 ' 7.5" | Peter Crouch | England | FW | 2010 | |
| 202 | 6 ' 7.5" | Zeljko Kalac | Australia | GK | 2006 | |
| 202 | 6 ' 7.5" | Jan Koller | Czechia | FW | 2006 | |
| 5 | 201 | 6 ' 7" | Lovre Kalinic | Croatia | GK | 2018 |
| 201 | 6 ' 7" | Fraser Forster | England | GK | 2014 | |
| 201 | 6 ' 7" | Dennis Lawrence | Trinidad & Tobago | DF | 2006 | |
| 8 | 200 | 6 ' 6.5" | Thibaut Courtois | Belgium | GK | 2014, 2018 |
Data Source: the height data is retrieved from the World Cup player databases on www.worldfootball.net (Nov 2022)
Notes: Peter Crouch is listed at 202cm on this database, so he is left at that height on this list even though he is listed as 201cm elsewhere including on Wikipedia.
Related Pages
- Football Anthropometry
- Lists of the shortest footballers
- Height changes of the Brazilian team at the FIFA World Cup
- Olympic Games Anthropometry for other sports in 2012
- All about fitness testing, including anthropometry testing
- The Tallest Olympic Athletes
- Procedure for measuring Height
- Poll about the fitness components for soccer
- Fitness for Soccer
- Fitness Testing for Football
- Sport Specific Anthropometry — about body size and composition of many sports
- All about anthropometry testing
- Examples of the World's tallest athletes
- Height growth charts — monitoring height changes over time
- Converting cm to ft and in and vice versa.
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
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