Top Footballers Grow Taller, Faster and Older Over 50 Years, With 72 Aged 35-Plus
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jun 17
Top Footballers Grow Taller, Faster and Older Over 50 Years, With 72 Aged 35-Plus
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 17
Summary
Data spanning the 1970s to the 2020s shows elite footballers have become taller, leaner and biologically better equipped for a faster game, with average height in England’s top division rising by more than 4cm from 1973 to 2013.
Speed has become the defining demand: players rarely topped 30km/h in the 1970s and 1980s, but at least 10 exceeded 35km/h at the 2022 World Cup, while Euro 2024 players hit 25km/h or more about 12 times per match.
That shift is tied to high-pressing tactics, better pitches and a premium on repeated sprint recovery rather than total distance, with players at the 2022 World Cup averaging 10.6km per match versus a 1990s peak of 11.4km.
The physical load is also raising injury concerns as top players face crowded calendars—Virgil van Dijk has played 65 matches this season—and a 2023 Uefa-commissioned study found a worrying rise in hamstring injuries, many during running or sprinting.
Sports science is also extending careers: Champions League average squad age rose to 26.5 in 2018 from 24.9 in 1992, and current FIFA squad lists include 72 players aged 35 or over, including eight aged at least 40.