Women's Soccer minimum height?

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After failing to lead Scotland to victory in their must-win World Cup qualifier against Slovenia, where did ex-manager Gordon Strachan lay the blame?

Scotland's opponents might not have been technically superior, but they had "height and strength" the Scots had been unable to combat, Strachan said.

"Genetically, we are behind," he said. "In the last campaign we were the second-smallest, apart from Spain."

Strachan's comments sparked a debate in the football world about whether Scotland, or any football team, needed more height in their team to succeed.

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Well national teams won't be full of short players, rather their average heights are close to their countries' average height because there will be a mix of taller players (keeper, forwards) and shorter players (mids). take a look yourself at the average heights of good male men's national teams and you will see this.

what I've been saying is that the fact that women's national teams are skewed toward taller players is because the women's game is not mature and size/strength is still a dominant facto in the game as the skill component has not been close to maximized. do a thought experiment, think of a bunch of kids who don't yet know how to play soccer, of course the bigger and stronger kids will have an advantage in that game. in fact this is youth soccer today.. in the future the average height on the wnt will be close to the average american woman's height (5'4")

I've not considered this aspect, do you have any data to back it up, examples of teams filling their rosters with short players intentionally and not due to small stature?

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nice quote selection lol. from the EXACT SAME ARTICLE

"The height of footballers does not necessarily reflect the national trend. Dutch men are the tallest in world, but their football team is currently one of the shortest in Europe."

"The eventual winners of the tournament were Portugal, who were also one of the shortest teams, suggesting height was not necessarily a bar to success."

"Globally, the top 10 shortest teams in 2015 contained some of the most successful football nations, and four World Cup winners: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain."

After failing to lead Scotland to victory in their must-win World Cup qualifier against Slovenia, where did ex-manager Gordon Strachan lay the blame?

Scotland's opponents might not have been technically superior, but they had "height and strength" the Scots had been unable to combat, Strachan said.

"Genetically, we are behind," he said. "In the last campaign we were the second-smallest, apart from Spain."

Strachan's comments sparked a debate in the football world about whether Scotland, or any football team, needed more height in their team to succeed.

[Unregistered]

Oh, I am familiar with NCAA D1 and D3 woman's soccer. Glad that the young ladies from WSU are in the final four. It is quite an accomplishment. But what are they going to do with a sociology degree from WSU? Kicking a ball for fun will end sooner or later, then you got to play in the real world where education and degrees matter.

Anybody can go to WSU, with or without soccer. If my dd was a P5 caliber player and smart, why would I ever send her to the cultural and academic backwaters of Pullman? For soccer? Really? I am getting a sense that some of you don't have a PhD from MIT and are not senior staff engineers at Google.

Stanford, Duke, UCLA, USC, Santa Clara, Brown. MIT, Williams, Tufts, Claremont, Pomona, Chicago, CMU, Swarthmore, Middlebury, John Hopkins, and Amherst. What do these schools have in common? All D1/D3 NCAA tourney schools, need high GPA and SAT scores to get in and survive, job and grad school prospects are awesome, these schools on the resume will open doors forever, and schools much, much better than WSU.

So, you want to send your dd to WSU for soccer rather than these schools? I should call CPS on you for child abuse, abandonment, and diminished, parental mental capacity.

Wow, this went from a forum about how tall girl soccer players are to a completel put down of a university. Go Cougs! Good school, good soccer program and a great place to spend four years.

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the fact that there is no inherent size advantage in soccer (unlike many other sports, rugby, basketball, football, baseball, etc.) is exactly WHY it's the most popular sport in the world.

people want to see themselves reflected on the field, they like to play sports for fun that they can be successful in, like to root for players who are similar to them in some way. soccer is the world sport which appeals to the greatest number of people due to the fact that on a pro level it is not limited to a narrow 1% size band of the world's population.

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incidentally the second most popular sport in the world is cricket, another sport in which both tall and short players have different advantages (bowlers vs. batsmen) and are both successful.

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Average height for a US woman in 5'4". Of course there are some positions like forwards where heading is important or keeper where size is a distinct advantage.

Smaller players are more coordinated, again this is physiologic. Shorter distance to toes means faster reflexes. 1

I agree and who wouldn't find it entertaining to watch a team full of 170lb 5.3 muffin tops representing USWNT.


170.6 pounds

American women aged 20 years and above weigh an average of 170.6 pounds (lbs), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . Height-wise, the average adult female is 5 feet 3.7 inches, and her waist measures 38.2 inches.

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I've heard that tall folks have a hard time getting into, let alone succeeding, at Wonka FC.

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I've heard that tall folks have a hard time getting into, let alone succeeding, at Wonka FC.

Understandable, short wide torsos makes a wider wall for pks. Plus, teams can save money on kid sized apparel.

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This is a stupid thread.

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We're still having the height conversation after Messi just won the Ballon d'Or for the 6th time? And we're using WSU's roster as a barometer, why? WSU's coach is like 5'-2" tall himself, but obviously prefers to be the shortest in the team huddle.

USWNT - listed heights, so guessing most of these players may actually be shorter...
Crystal Dunn 5'-1"
Rose Lavelle - 5'-4"
Mallory Pugh - 5'-4"
O'Hara 5'-5"
Tobin Heath 5'-6"

A few non-US players of note in World Cup:
Kim Little 5'-4"
Marta 5'-4"
Debinha 5'-2"
Beth Mead 5'-4"
Jessie Fleming 5'-4"
Desiree Scott 5'-2"
Erin Cuthbert 5'-4"

How about the best player in college - Stanford's Macario. Not small, but listed at 5'5" and plays like she's 5'-9." She has a 5'-0" teammate in the starting line-up who is an excellent player.

Can you have a team full of 5'-4" players? No, as you'll lose on set pieces. But only recruiting for height is short-sighted ; ) and assuming any u8 player is going to be too small for soccer is also short-sighted...

That’s an impressive list!

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Silly thread, in my opinion. There's LOADS of phenomenal shorter players. I follow the Arsenal.

Danielle Van de Donk - 5'3"
Beth Mead - 5'4"
Jordan Nobbs - 5'3"
Kim Little (ironic, I know!) - 5'4"
Danielle Carter - 5'3"

It's your quality. Not your height.

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Quote from Jordan Nobbs (Plays for the Arsenal, 5'3")

"What tip would you give a young player hoping to succeed?"

To really enjoy playing but if it's what you really want just to push yourself - when you're not training there is someone out there who is. If you work hard and believe, you will get to where you want to be!

ENJOYMENT is the most important part of the sport. That's where it starts. Train all you want but if you don't enjoy it you're not going to succeed. And, what else" TRAIN. The woman is 5'3" and an amazing player with one of the best women's teams on the planet. Plays for the current English champs. Get outta here with your height bias!

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Settle down everyone. For the most part, everyone's posts are mostly true. I've coached kids 5-19 and most kids have a chance to earn a spot regardless of their size. Some parents may have gotten riled up because their kids have a shorter stature. If your kid is aggressive, skilled and well rounded he or she will earn a spot.

The rub seems to be whether or not there is a disadvantage to being short. I wouldn't so much call it a disadvantage unless your kid has his or her heart set on a particular position such as defender or goalie. In youth soccer, shorter players will have an equal opportunity, however a team is usually made up with about 60-70% medium-tall players, 30-40% on the shorter side. In that sense, I'd say there are slightly fewer positions that would be ideal.

For defenders, there is more demand to be tall and strong, to be able to stand up to attackers and win the ball in the air.

SOME coaches will desire taller strikers when it comes to jumping and heading the ball, but as plenty have pointed out, many of the greatest players in the world are on the shorter side.

Now let's cheer ALL of our kids on and keep it fun.