At least 191 cm methinks...something along those lines would make for an interesting discussion as outfielders of that stature are relatively rare in a sport that is predicated on agility, control and balance to navigate condensed spaces, and technically sublime ones that bring great joy are rarer still in terms of sample size. Repeating the same exercise for the above average but distinctly unremarkable 180-189 cm range isn't exactly a challenging endeavor as you can choose from any of Zidane, van Basten, Ronaldinho, Laudrup, Kaká, Falcão, Bergkamp, Henry, Redondo, Cantona, Schuster, Francescoli, Totti, Litmanen, and so on and so forth.
Big and tall footballer that’s technically great
- Thread starter Isotope
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Nnwankwo Kanu.
In that case we are in the Gullit, Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Yaya Touré range? Does Vieira qualifies as a technically gifted player in that context?
The bar is too low. 185 is not tall.
What’s technique? You’d probably find quite a few with a great touch & shooting technique, as it isn’t really something that’s affected by your height.
To find an outstanding tall dribbler is another matter though, as your balance is such a huge part of any dribble & players with high center of gravity are at a huge disadvantage.
Gullit & Socrates instantly came to mind, especially the former, I’m still not entirely sure how his skillset made sense. Surely you can’t just max out every ability without any repercussions?
Zlatan was never a very consistent dribbler, although his sheer technical level was enough to produce some bits of true magic (the Ajax goal stands out the most).
There were also other players who felt tall, even though they weren’t 190+ (Zidane, Van Basten, Cristiano, Henry, Cantona)...
Rijkaard probably deserves a mention as well. He wasn’t quite as good as Gullit in terms of his dribbling, but he was still very good when he went forward, plus his passing and shooting technique was immaculate. It’s so insane that Netherlands had the big three at the same time! Especially with Gullit & Rijkaard practically growing up together.
To find an outstanding tall dribbler is another matter though, as your balance is such a huge part of any dribble & players with high center of gravity are at a huge disadvantage.
Gullit & Socrates instantly came to mind, especially the former, I’m still not entirely sure how his skillset made sense. Surely you can’t just max out every ability without any repercussions?
Zlatan was never a very consistent dribbler, although his sheer technical level was enough to produce some bits of true magic (the Ajax goal stands out the most).
There were also other players who felt tall, even though they weren’t 190+ (Zidane, Van Basten, Cristiano, Henry, Cantona)...
Rijkaard probably deserves a mention as well. He wasn’t quite as good as Gullit in terms of his dribbling, but he was still very good when he went forward, plus his passing and shooting technique was immaculate. It’s so insane that Netherlands had the big three at the same time! Especially with Gullit & Rijkaard practically growing up together.
I don't think it's the first touch, but more the intricate dribbling the short players pull off. Even technically great tall players like Pogba, Zlatan can't weave in and out with the ball like Messi or Iniesta can.
I think this comes down to their natural stride. Messi/Iniesta's natural stride is much shorter than Pogba or Zlatan so while over a similar length they'll get more touches on the ball allowing them more chances to manipulate the ball.
I think this comes down to their natural stride. Messi/Iniesta's natural stride is much shorter than Pogba or Zlatan so while over a similar length they'll get more touches on the ball allowing them more chances to manipulate the ball.
John Charles
You would not be tall, just above average. As I said before, average height of a field player is 181cm, so 185cm means just being 2,21% above average height. It's basically not even worth mentioning, especially in the context of what op meant. OP spoke of Pogba, who is 191cm. That's tall, as it is at least 5% taller than average.
I'm ashamed to say that I'm a freakishly tiny 1m81
Why do I even admit this, it's the internet. Oh well.
Regarding Gullit it makes sense when you look at NBA players, because most of them are freakishly tall we tend to forget that for example Magic Johnson is a large human being.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Nobody else comes anywhere near!
Tall also means above average. The figures that you used are totally subjective and have nothing to do with the definition of tall. Also the OP talked about Cruyff and Grealish too.
175cm is just over 5 feet 7, that is taller than the average man in Asia, but average height in Europe is 5 feet 8, in the UK it is almost 5 feet 10, the USA is 5 feet 9.
Just because someone is an inch or two more than average height doesn't mean they are tall, it just means they are slightly above average.
Bruno Petković (1.93m or 6'4") is quite the baller.
He did. It was hilarious watching him do skills. You almost couldn't believe he was pulling it off as it looked so ungainly.
Oh, yeah, I’ve thought about NBA actually. It doesn’t make sense to me at all, I don’t know how it’s physically possible for them to move like they do
Gullit certainly looks like an NBA player with his cat-like agility, power and pace, good shout!
* although seeing as basketball is played with hands & so much is happening in the air, it’s probably not bad to have a higher gravity center as an opposed to football?
Paul Onuachu. He has 31 goals in Belgium this season, and is pretty good technically, being 2.01m.
Was afraid to mention him because a lot of people didn't notice how good he was on the ball
But we are talking about people coming from all over the world, not just the few tallest countries in the world? For example, in the pool of great players a signifcant amount of players come from Brazil or Spain who have respectively an average height of 170cm and 169cm, so to say that a player that is 185cm-190cm isn't tall is in my opinion wrong even by your criteria of one or two inches.
As he said he's Dutch. The average height over there is 182.5 cm so not he's not that tall, comparitively.
The average height for a footballer playing in England is about the same, funnily enough.
I guess when you're 1cm below average, you're small by your logic? Yea, if we apply that logic, a lot of people would be small or tall, I guess. I don't think that's what's meant when creating this thread, regardless of the mentions of Cruyff and Grealish.
Oh yeah good shout. Did we ever find out what age he really was?
It's kind of worse in the NBA because guards routinely have violent change of directions, they are just totally abnormal. And you can actually see a lot of NBA players that are tall without the crazy athleticism which makes the others even more special.Oh, yeah, I’ve thought about NBA actually. It doesn’t make sense to me at all, I don’t know how it’s physically possible for them to move like they do
Gullit certainly looks like an NBA player with his cat-like agility, power and pace, good shout!
* although seeing as basketball is played with hands & so much is happening in the air, it’s probably not bad to have a higher gravity center as an opposed to football?
The Germans here will remember Carsten Jancker. I don’t know if I’m imagining this but I seem to recall his technique and close control was decent considering his size.
John Carew Carew
So good they named him twice.
So good they named him twice.
But we are talking about Football globally and across generations, 185 is tall in that context. Also not that tall is tall.
Only the Germans? He played in the 99 CL final and played against United a few times, iirc. Everyone should remember him.
Nwankwo Kanu
There’s plenty. Ibra springs to mind immediately
Hit the bar with an overhead kick.
on that note, Crouchy. Jan Koller also played like a "little man"
Matic is technically superb only thing which is under top level is his long range passing.
We’re not talking about people coming from all over the world. We’re talking about professional footballers. Whose average height would be much closer to that of Holland than it would the average height of Brazil or Spain. Also don’t forget we’re talking about men. Average height for a nation will include both sexes.
Side note, I refuse to believe the average height of men in Spain is 169cm. That’s fecking tiny!
No we are talking tall for a footballer, Ronaldo is 6 feet so is classed as a tall footballer, Matic is 6 feet 3 so is classed as a very tall footballer, Peter Crouch is 6 feet 7 so is absurdly tall for a footballer.
The average height of the footballers at the 2018 World Cup was 5 feet 10, so using this as the basis, then 5 feet 10 is not tall for a footballer, (as it is impossible to know the average for all of football worldwide).
We also can't say anyone less than the average is short and anyone more than the average is tall. Because that would mean someone 5 feet 9.5 is short yet someone 5 feet 10.5 is tall, even though there is only 1 inch separating them.
Thank you.
Sasa Kalajdzic, will probably play in England in 3 or 4 years.
Height is distributed in a bell shaped curve. So centiles a good way to define tall vs short. > 90th centile = tall.< 10th centile = short.
I have no idea what these figures are for professional footballers but in non-footballers an 18 year old male in the UK would hit the 90th centile at 186cm. So you should probably add another 3 or 4cm to that figure for the purpose of this discussion.
Zaniolo from Roma. Unfortunately he has had 2 ACL injury so far. I hope he can still have a good career.
As several posters in here have written: the average height for footballers is between 181 and 182 cm. 185 cm is not tall.
Tall also means above average, so by your own figures 185 is tall. But anyway, no one gives a damn about that conversation, if you want to be on topic comment on my list and whether Vieira qualifies as technical.