2014 FIFA World Cup™: The Players series – II. Their height (tallest & shortest: player, team, position) infographic
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This is the second infographic of a series related to the players of the 2014 World Cup. It examines the height of the footballers.
Tallest man of the tournament is England’s goalkeeper Fraser Forster with a height of 2.01 metres (6’7”). The shortest goalkeepers have a height of 1.78m (5’10”) and there are five of them: Cameroon’s Loic Feudjou & Sammy Ndjock, Costa Rica’s Patrick Pemberton, Honduras’s Noel Valladares and Mexico’s Jose Corona. On average goalkeepers are taller than the rest of the players (1.88m).
They are followed by defenders (1.83m) and forwards (1.80m). Shortest position is the midfielders (1.79m). The shortest two men of this World Cup are Cameroon’s midfielder Edgar Salli and Italy’s forward Lorenzo Insigne (both 1.63m – 5’4”)*.
Tallest team on average is Germany (1.85m) followed by Bosnia & Herzegovina and Greece. Shortest team is Chile (1.76m) followed by Japan and Mexico (1.78m).
For comparison on the infographic the players stand by a goalpost. The official distance from the lower edge of the crossbar to the ground is 2.44m (8ft).
Here is a table with the heights of each team (average) participating in the World Cup:
| Height of: |
(cm) |
(ft) |
| Fraser Forster (England – goalkeeper) | 201.0 | 6’7” |
| Goalkeepers (average) | 187.7 | 6’2” |
| Germany | 185.3 | 6’2” |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 185.0 | 6’2” |
| Greece | 184.7 | 6’2” |
| Belgium | 184.5 | 6’2” |
| Croatia | 184.4 | 6’2” |
| Korea Republic (South Korea) | 183.9 | 6’0” |
| England | 183.3 | 6’0” |
| Iran | 183.1 | 6’0” |
| USA | 183.0 | 6’0” |
| Defenders (average) | 183.0 | 6’0” |
| Switzerland | 182.8 | 6’0” |
| Italy | 182.4 | 6’0′ |
| Algeria | 182.2 | 6’0” |
| Brazil | 182.0 | 6’0” |
| Nigeria | 182.0 | 6’0” |
| Netherlands | 181.9 | 6’0” |
| Russia | 181.9 | 6’0” |
| Portugal | 181.8 | 6’0” |
| Colombia | 181.7 | 6’0” |
| All Players (average) | 181.6 | 5’11” |
| France | 181.3 | 5’11” |
| Uruguay | 181.2 | 5’11” |
| Argentina | 181.1 | 5’11” |
| Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) | 180.8 | 5’11” |
| Australia | 180.3 | 5’11” |
| Costa Rica | 180.3 | 5’11” |
| Forwards (average) | 180.2 | 5’11” |
| Spain | 179.8 | 5’11” |
| Honduras | 179.6 | 5’11” |
| Cameroon | 179.4 | 5’11” |
| Ghana | 179.4 | 5’11” |
| Ecuador | 179.3 | 5’11” |
| Midfielders (average) | 178.7 | 5’10” |
| Japan | 178.0 | 5’10” |
| Mexico | 178.0 | 5’10” |
| Chile | 176.0 | 5’9” |
| Edgar Salli (Cameroon – Midfielder) Lorenzo Insigne (Italy – Forward) |
163.0 | 5’4” |
Sources:
FIFA The Official Website of the FIFA World Cup™
| If you found this post interesting, why not have a look at our posts about: 2014 FIFA World Cup™: The Players series – I. Where their club is based (home/abroad & top countries) infographic The History of the Football World Cup Finals (1930-2006) infographic World Cup Finals 2010: the Group Stage – an infograph World Cup 2010: Representation of the Continents (infographic) |
The Missing Graph 
Your shorted player (Marvin Chavez) height is incorrect. Should be 165 cm an not 156 cm.
Please check and correct.
Thank you for the correction! We spotted it too and I think we have made all the necessary corrections. Perhaps try to reload the page to see the changes? As we mention with an asterisk at the end of the post “In previous versions of the infographic (1.0-1.0.1 – 24 June 2014) & post, it was stated that the shortest man of the tournament was Marvin Chavez (Honduras – Midfielder) with a height of 1.56m; this was most likely because of a typo at FIFA’s database/website. After cross-referencing with other sources (e.g. The Guardian) it looks as if Marvin Chavez is not 1.56m high but 1.65m instead.”
Thank you once more and apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Thank you.