High growth in football is welcome, especially when it comes to goalkeepers and central defenders.
There are a huge number of players with a height of 190-195 cm, so in our selection we will consider only those who have grown even more. Such guys can be recruited not just one, but several dozen, so many of us are forced to disregard.
10. Gianluigi Donaruma
The hope of the Italian team and the successor of the great Gianluigi Buffon already at 16 years old had considerable growth and talent, which allowed him to become the basis of “Milan” at such a young age.
The guy actually proved that they had confidence in him for good reason and that he was really able to “drag” both the club and the national team.
Unfortunately, in the last couple of seasons there have been too many scandals surrounding his name, allegedly connected with his desire to change his team, although in fact these are all tricks of his agent, which is adding value to his client. Let's hope that the transfer epic will finally end and Donaruma will continue to grow in game plan.
As for field players, with the same height as Buffon, 196 cm One cannot but single out Artyom Dziuba, who became one of the heroes of the Russian national team at the last world championship.
9. Edwin Van der Sar
One of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of the Dutch national team, as well as the true legend of Manchester United, has grown to 197 cm. Such data allowed him to easily win riding duels in the goalkeeper area, leaving no chance for rival players. This helped him when playing “on the ribbon”: he easily got the “dead” balls from the farthest corners.
8. Naldo
Brazilian quarterback with growth 198 cm It is not only a reliable game in its own half of the field, but also a threat to rivals during the standards. During his career, he scored about 70 goals, becoming one of the most successful defenders in history.
Of course, he scored most of the goals with his head, but not all: in addition to his tall stature, he is famous for “killer” penalty kicks from long distances. Another defender with a similar growth is the German Per Mertezaker, who played the best years in a London Arsenal T-shirt and became world champion with his national team in 2014.
7. Thibault Courtois
The Belgian, who plays for Real Madrid, is growing 199 centimeters and amazing dexterity for such dimensions.
Even during the game at Chelsea, many were amazed at how he knows how to fold and reflect punches point-blank, because with his growth it is really not easy. It is noteworthy that at that time, the second goalkeeper of the Londoners was Asmir Begovic, whose growth is also 199 cm.
6. Peter Crouch
Englishman with growth 201 cm spent his entire career in England (not counting the short-term rental in the Swedish Hessleholm) and became a real attraction there. It is not only very tall, but also thin (weighing only 75 kg), so it looks rather comical on the field and outside it.
In addition, he celebrates goals scored in an extremely original way, depicting a robot dance. He, playing as a center forward, scored more than 100 goals, more than half of them with his head. This is a record of the Premier League, so it was even listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
The player himself, who is currently 38 years old, with a sense of humor refers to his appearance and is not afraid to seem ridiculous or funny.
5. Jan Koller
Czech forward, ending his career in 2011, with growth 202 cm it was also very wide, so it looked impressive on the field.
During his career, he played in many teams, but I want to single out two: the Dortmund Borussia, with which Koller even took the championship in 2002 (at the same time the club reached the UEFA Cup final), and the Wings of the Soviets from Samara.
Koller came to Russia in 2008 and played just 1 full season, but still managed to score 16 goals and spoil the nerves of the defenders of domestic teams. It is not surprising that he is the top scorer in the history of the Czech team with 55 goals scored.
4. Lasina Traore
The footballer of the Cote d’Ivoire national team spent the best years of his career in Russia, having started performing in our Kuban in 2011. Despite his height 203 cm, he had decent speed and was good at dribbling, so he could not only score from the standards, but also drag the ball through half of the field alone.
In addition to “Kuban”, he managed to play for “Anji”, CSK, “Monaco”, “Everton” and “Sporting”, after which his career rapidly declined.
He lowered his requirements for himself and became lazy in training, so as a free agent he moved first to the weak French Amiens, and now he plays in the Hungarian championship.
3. Zharko Markovich
The name of this Serb with growth 204 cm probably well known to fans from Kazakhstan, as the defender of the whole 3 seasons defended the colors of “Kairat”.
After 89 matches for the club, he even scored 9 goals, but for a number of reasons the contract with him was not renewed. Since then, he has been a free agent for 2 years, and given that he is 32 years old, he has little chance of finding a strong team.
2. Denis Tolebaev
Goalkeeper from Kazakhstan with growth 205 cm stands for the club "Kyran". He did not manage to prove himself in a stronger championship, but in his homeland he is a celebrity. Thanks to the weight of more than 100 kg, it looks intimidating, taking up a lot of space in the gate frame.
1. Football players above 206 cm
Since there are no known players with such growth, we decided not to single out one, but just to mention a few. For example, danish goalkeeper Tony brogard with growth 207 cm spent his entire career at home, and playing in the lower divisions. For his height and appearance, he received the nickname "gentle giant", which is consistent.
Belgian goalkeeper Christoph Van Hout with growth 208 cm during his career he managed to play in the Netherlands and India, although he spent most of his career in his native Belgium, speaking, among other things, for Genk and Standard.
The highest professional footballer in the world is the Dane. Simon Jorgensenwhose growth is 211 cm. In the winter of 2019, he moved to the club of the 6th English division “Dalwich Hamlet”, telling journalists about plans to get to the Premier League.