Despite other sports like basketball or volleyball where it is common to find tall players, not all soccer players are tall. In fact, many soccer players are short. Some of them really short. In a sport where players come of different sizes, it is normal to see short soccer players. However, why are soccer players short?
Soccer players are short because soccer is a sport requiring players to change directions frequently rather than other skills such as running or jumping for a long period of time. Hence, short players can quickly accelerate and move to beat opponents.
Besides that, soccer is a sport where height or size are factors but not the only ones. Other abilities such as having good technique with the ball, having the correct positioning on the field, and making the right decisions with the ball on the field, among others, can play a key role in the game. Hence, whether you are a short, average-size, or tall player, you can still be a good player.
In this article I’m going to share more characteristics of short soccer players, their advantages and disadvantages when compared to taller soccer players, as well as answer common questions such as why short soccer players are good or whether short soccer players are better, and more.
Table of Contents
Advantages of short soccer players
Here are the advantages that short soccer players have over taller players:
- Quickly change directions
- Understand before other players where the ball should go
- Hard to steal the ball
- Accelerate faster than taller soccer players
Below, I will explain each of those advantages that short soccer players have.
Quickly change directions
In soccer, you are constantly changing directions rather than running in a straight line. Therefore, being agile and having the ability to quickly change directions gives short players an advantage over taller soccer players to gain extra space to pass or shoot the ball.
Every soccer player has different abilities and stating that tall soccer players can’t quickly change directions than short soccer players would be a lie. For instance, the famous Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, who is 6’1”, can be lethal against his opponents with his ability to quickly change directions.
However, when you start talking with other soccer fans about some of the most agile soccer players, you will hear the names of Xavi Hernández (5’7”), Neymar Jr (5’9”), Eden Hazard (5’9”), Lionel Messi (5’7”), Sadio Mané (5’9”), or Andres Iniesta (5’7′), and many others. Suddenly you realize that most of them are no taller than 5’10”.
But what is the reason for this trend?
Short soccer players have a lower center of gravity when compare to taller players. This means there is less inertia or less resistance to changes in other physical factors such as speed and/or direction, allowing them to move change directions much quicker.
Checkout out the following video of Lionel Messi showing his ability to quickly dribble against his opponents. Yes, he is one of the most talented players on earth. However, his short height and quick feet make him a difficult player to stop.
Understand before other players where the ball should go
I had several soccer coaches throughout my soccer career. I learned different things from each of them. However, one thing that I kept hearing from every single coach was:
The ball always moves faster than the player.
No matter how fit a player could be or how many 100-meter sprints a player runs, if a player kicks the soccer ball to the goal, defenders are almost never going to be able to run as fast as the ball to prevent a goal.
Therefore, understanding where the ball should go before other players sounds simple, but it is an important skill that takes time to master.
Having a good understanding of the game, the positioning of your teammates and the positioning of opponents is critical to make the best decisions in a matter of a blink of an eye.
Luckily, any soccer player can develop this skill regardless of their height. However, short soccer players typically pay more emphasis on making quick decisions, as quick as knowing where the ball should go before receiving a pass from a teammate.
Why?
Because short soccer players know that they will lose against taller and bigger players in a physical game. Instead, they avoid the physical game above all circumstances this physical game by passing or shooting the ball fast, giving other players fewer chances to block or tackle them.
Hard to steal the ball
For the most part, I played in defensive positions during my soccer career such as defensive midfielder, center back, right back, and a few times left back. Depending on the opponent’s skills, as a defender, I could determine how hard it was to steal the ball, and for the most part, short and agile players were the toughest to defend and steal the ball.
Defenders typically win headers and on the physical game due to their size.
However, most short soccer players have the ability to move their feet fast, explosively changing directions. Adding on top of that, they also put an emphasis on improving their technique with the ball.
Hence, stealing the ball against short soccer players is challenging and demands a lot of concentration. Otherwise, defenders end up fouling short players even when the main purpose is to get the ball back (some defenders are more aggressive and look to hurt their opponents to prevent their progress toward the goal).
Accelerate faster than taller soccer players
Let’s assume you have a soccer player to be the faster 100-meter sprinter in the world, Usain Bolt, who also played professional soccer for a short period of time, and you compare him against another player such as Mohamed Salah, who is also is a fast sprinter but quicker at accelerating.
Which of the two players will make more impact on a game? The faster at sprinting or the faster at accelerating?
As I mentioned before, players who are fast at running long distances don’t often take advantage of that when compared to players who can accelerate faster.
Yes, the dimensions of a professional soccer field are 105 meters (114 yards) in length and 68 meters (74 yards) in width. While 105 meters seems to be the perfect distance for 100-meter sprinters, the reality is certain areas of the field are used more than others depending on the game and strategy.
That being said, that doesn’t mean that soccer players won’t run from one goal to another. However, running the whole length of the field is infrequent and rather an odd scenario that could happen only a few times during the game.
Disadvantages of short soccer players
Here are the disadvantages that short soccer players have over taller players:
- Short soccer players are not as strong compared to taller players
- Short soccer players are not as good at heading the ball
- Short soccer players are not as fast at running long-distance sprints compared to taller players
Short soccer players are not as strong compared to taller players
Earlier I mentioned some soccer players who can quickly change directions such as Xavi Hernández, Neymar Jr, Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi, Sadio Mané, or Andres Iniesta. With the exception of Eden Hazard, they all share something else in common: their weight. They weigh around 150 to 152 lbs (68kg).
Hence, if these players are challenged in a shoulder-to-shoulder tackle against other taller players, for instance, Casemiro of 6″ height and 185lbs (84kg) weight, the likelihood is they will lose as they are not as strong.
Players who have more weight are more likely to have more muscle mass, making them stronger. In the case of short soccer players, most of them are lightweight. There are other factors such as how frequently a player does strength training. However, short soccer players typically put more emphasis on training other skills such as ball technique or agility movements.
Of course, there are always exceptions of strong short soccer players such as Roberto Carlos, but there are not many of them.
With that being said, you might argue that short soccer players should hit the gym more and gain more muscle to improve their physical strength. If they do so, they will most likely lose speed and acceleration which is one of their most significant advantages in the game.
While soccer doesn’t require you to be a strong all-muscle player, there are a few times when being a stronger player is helpful, especially when any given game turns out to be more physical.
Check out the following videos to see examples of strong players. You will quickly realize none of those players are short.
Short soccer players are not as good at heading the ball
Heading the ball is a skill in soccer. Giving the right direction and power to the ball with your head can be improved regardless of how short or tall you are.
Therefore, saying that short soccer players are not as good at heading the ball is incorrect. However, let me explain more.
Soccer is a sport you play with your feet as the ball moves on the grass for the most part. At times you can use your thighs, chest, or head when the ball is in the air. When that happens, players typically head to the ball to attempt to make a pass or score a goal.
Unfortunately, the ball doesn’t go straight to your head when it is in the air. Therefore, you will have to jump to try to reach the ball with your head.
Given this scenario, the chances for short soccer players to head the ball against other players are low when challenged against taller players. This means they don’t head the ball as often. Therefore, when short soccer players get the opportunity to head the ball, the quality of the header is not as good compared to the quality of a header of a tall player.
Short soccer players are not as fast at running long-distance sprints compared to taller players
The main thing to understand is what you consider fast. Usain Bolt and Messi are both fast, but one could beat the other depending on the circumstance. Bolt is a sprinter while Messi is a soccer player. Both of them are the best at what they do.
Messi is fast-moving the ball with his feet and quickly accelerating to beat his opponents. Bolt is the greatest at running 100-meter sprinters. Both are really fast athletes.
However, quicker acceleration doesn’t translate into a fast sprinter, nor the opposite, fast sprinters don’t translate into quick and explosive at accelerating.
Bolt is the tallest current champion of the 100-meter sprints at 1.95m (6’5″) tall. Now, I know we are talking about soccer, not about sprinting competitions.
However, if you check out some of the fastest soccer players, with that being said, I refer to players reaching their top speed rather than accelerating speed, you will see the names of Kylian Mbappé (5′ 1″), Alphonso Davies (6′ 0″), Federico Valverde (6′ 0″), Darwin Núñez (6′ 2″), Erling Haaland (6′ 4″). They are all tall soccer players!
The reason for this is taller soccer players have longer legs compared to other players. This allows taller players to cover more distance when running at top speed than short soccer players.
