Taller, faster, older: How top footballers' bodies have changed over 50 years

Two historic goals in the Fifa Men's World Cup tell the story of a radical transformation in both football and the bodies of its elite players.

Over a tense and spectacular 30 seconds in 1970, Brazil worked the ball through eight players before a thunderous strike by right-back Carlos Alberto.

The team's fourth goal against Italy in the World Cup final is often hailed as one of the greatest moments in the tournament's history.

But fast forward five decades, and a similar seven-pass manoeuvre by Argentina against France in the 2022 final - finished by winger Angel Di Maria – took just 12 seconds.

That 1970 goal "wouldn't have taken place in this day and age", says Dr Orlando Laitano, a University of Florida professor and leading expert on exercise physiology.

If that Brazilian team could travel in time, their move would likely be stifled by modern opponents. And, says Dr Laitano, "the biggest gap wouldn't be talent - it would be physiology".

'A battle for every inch'

Dr Laitano, who worked with the Brazilian national team in the 2014 World Cup, says modern footballers have become biologically different players from their predecessors.

He says the evolution of exercise and medicine, and changes to the way the game is played, mean elite football has evolved into a battle for every inch of pitch space and "as a consequence, modern players have to become faster and stronger".

Data from the past five decades shows top players have become both taller and leaner, according to researchers from Wolverhampton University in the UK.

They have compared information about thousands of players in the English top football division from the 1970s to the 2020s - the First Division up to 1992, and then the Premiere League, in which elite players from around the world are now strongly represented.

The players' average height increased by more than 4cm between 1973 to 2013.

The trend continued in the following decade for goalkeepers and defenders, though the average height for strikers and midfielders decreased a little.

The researchers also concluded the top division players "are getting more angular and ectomorphic".

This means they increasingly tend towards tall, lean, light-framed, long-limbed body shapes - indicated by rising scores for a measure called Reciprocal Ponderal Index (RPI), which measures height relative to weight in a way that emphasises thinness.

The study's authors suggest the change in body type is because of better pitches and the increased workload required of modern-day players.

Back in the 1970s, pitches in the middle of winter used to get very muddy "and players had to be very muscular to perform well", says Emeritus Professor Alan Nevill, one of the study's co-authors.

But now, with better pitches "you're getting these lighter, thinner players that can perform for longer periods of sustained energy outputs".

Experts say much of that energy is expended on speed.

Sprinting (much more) to win

Several studies have estimated that players rarely broke the 30km/h barrier in the 1970s and 80s - but in the 2022 World Cup, at least 10 ran at speeds faster than 35km/h.

And crucially, players are having to hit their top speeds more times in a match.

"If you look at strikers from the last century, they could walk for most of the game, but just explode in a few actions and maybe score a goal. That doesn't exist anymore," says Jens Bangsbo, professor of exercise physiology at the University of Copenhagen.

In the last men's European Championships, played in Germany in 2024, players ran at speeds of 25km/h or more about 12 times per match, according to Uefa, the governing body of football in Europe.

The number of sprints depended on position, however - centre-backs and central midfielders fired on all cylinders eight times per match on average, while forwards did so 12 times and full-backs 14.

Sprinting fast is one thing, says Prof Bangsbo, but the most important thing is the ability to do it repeatedly.

"Basically football nowadays is the question about recovery - the ability to recover as fast as possible," explains Prof Bangsbo, a former professional footballer himself and one of the world's leading experts in football fitness and physiology.

This acceleration in the game, particularly in the past decade, has been largely driven by the increased use of high-pressing tactics – fast, co-ordinated attempts to gain possession of the ball from defenders on the opposing team, before they have managed to pass it up the pitch.

Interestingly though, the game has not seen a large increase in the distances players cover.

Studies suggest that in the 1970s, players walked, jogged or ran an average of 8.7km per match - and this rose to a peak of 11.4km in the 1990s, but has since dropped. Players in the 2022 World Cup covered an average distance per match of 10.6km, according to Fifa, though it varied between different positions.

Are footballers playing too much?

Also, data suggests some high-level footballers are playing more often. Studies have shown that the number of games played by most clubs around the world is stable, at around 42.

The burden, however, can get much heavier for elite players.

For example, Liverpool and Dutch defender Virgil Van Dijk has already taken part in a 65 games this season, including 10 for his national team, ahead of the World Cup, according to data published by Fifpro, the international footballers' trade union.

Fifpro has said demands on players have "never been greater" and called for increased safeguards on rest and recovery time.

"The number of games played is definitely an issue related to risk of injury," says Prof Bangsbo.

A study commissioned by Uefa, published in 2023, found what it described as a "worrying" increase in rates of hamstring injury over the preceding eight seasons. In six out of 10 cases, players hurt themselves while running or sprinting. The study did not assess cause, but the authors suggested the increased intensity of elite football and crowded match calendars might be factors.

"Players nowadays work at their limits. Without proper recovery time, their bodies cave in," Prof Laitano says.

Veterans on the rise

But there is good news too. Advances in sports science, from training regimes to nutrition and recovery, have made it possible for footballers to keep playing at elite level for longer.

The average squad age in the Uefa Champions League, the world's most important club tournament, rose from 24.9 years-old in 1992 to 26.5 in 2018.

The last three world cups were the "oldest" in history, according to Fifa - the 2018 tournament registered the highest-ever average player age for a tournament, of 27.9 years.

Just seven players aged 35 or over took part in the 1990 world cup - while 41 were present at the 2022 tournament, according to data compiled by Dr Joshua C Fjetsul, a data scientist and economist at the University of Oslo.

This year, the official Fifa squad lists show 72 over-35s. Eight players are aged 40 or over – more than in all previous world cups put together.

"Players who look after themselves and follow the right training and recovery protocols have a much better chance of playing at high level for longer than before," says Dr Laitano.

Graphics by Caroline Souza and Daniel Arce-Lopez