Does height influence who wins the Ballon d'Or?

When it comes to what it takes to win the Ballon d'Or, the most prestigious award in professional football, there is always room for debate.

For years, there has been discussion about what a player needs to achieve in a single season or year to win the trophy: how many goals to score, how many titles to win, and what impact they’ve had for their club and national team.

But there are also some intriguing factors beyond the players’ control that can reveal interesting trends amongst the winners of the Ballon d'Or.

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We’ve already analysed one of them – the age of the winners – and now we’re going to look at another aspect that has been little explored: height.

Do taller players – with their ability to win aerial duels and shield the ball using their physique – have an advantage in the race for the award? Or is it the shorter players – with their lower centre of gravity, greater ease at dribbling and ability to slip through defensive lines – who end up standing out the most?

Let’s look at the figures to find out.

1.78m: the average height of a ‘Ballon d'Or’ winner

Analysing the 47 unique winners of the ‘Ballon d'Or’ since the award’s inception in 1956, we see that the average height of the champions is 1.78m. Interestingly, this is also the height of the award’s most recent winner, the French star Ousmane Dembélé.

The giants who have won the award

At 1.90m, Rodri – winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2024 and this year’s World Cup – is the second-tallest player in the award’s history.

He is just one centimetre behind the record holder: the Dutchman Ruud Gullit, winner in 1987, who stood at an impressive 1.91m.

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In third place, unsurprisingly, is the only goalkeeper ever to win the ‘Ballon d'Or’: Lev Yashin. The Soviet player, who won in 1963, stood at 1.89m. Goalkeepers are often among the tallest players in a squad, as they need to combine agility, reach and physical presence to protect the goal.

The tallest winners in the history of the Ballon d'Or:

  1. Ruud Gullit – 1.91m

  2. Rodri – 1.90m

  3. Lev Yashin – 1.89m

  4. Marco van Basten – 1.88m

  5. Cristiano Ronaldo / Rivaldo – 1.87m

The stars who proved that height isn’t everything

Gullit is 28 cm taller than the shortest winner in the history of the ‘Ballon d'Or’: Omar Sívori. The Argentine-Italian striker won the trophy in 1961 and stood at just 1.63m.

Among the shortest winners of the award is also the record-holder with eight wins, Lionel Messi. At 1.70m, the Argentine star has always been associated with his short stature – he was even nicknamed ‘La Pulga’ (the Flea) because of his size. Many attribute part of his speed, agility and ability to dribble past defenders precisely to his lower centre of gravity.

The shortest winners in the history of the ‘Ballon d'Or’:

  1. Omar Sívori – 1.63m

  2. Allan Simonsen – 1.65m

  3. Raymond Kopa – 1.68m

  4. Lionel Messi – 1.70m

  5. Luka Modrić – 1.72m

The heights of goalkeepers who made history

The fact that Lev Yashin features amongst the tallest winners of the Ballon d'Or comes as no surprise, as goalkeepers are usually amongst the tallest players in a squad.

Known as the ‘Black Spider’ because of his long arms and impressive reach, he lends his name to the Yashin Trophy at the Ballon d'Or – created in 2019 to honour the world’s best goalkeeper.

The average height of Yashin Trophy winners is 1.96m – no less than 18cm taller than the average height of Ballon d'Or winners.

The tallest winner in the award’s history was the Belgian Thibaut Courtois, of Real Madrid, who won the trophy in 2022 at a height of 2.00m. This makes him, by a clear margin, the tallest player to receive any award at a Ballon d'Or ceremony.

The shortest winner, meanwhile, was the Brazilian Alisson, who received the first-ever Yashin Trophy in 2019. Although he is the shortest of the goalkeepers to have won the award, his height of 1.93m is still greater than that of any winner of the Ballon d'Or’s main award.

Great goalscorers, great heights?

Another player who tends to stand out for his physical stature within a squad is the centre-forward. Seen as the main focal point of the attack, a good number 9 needs to combine speed, strength and physical presence to overcome defenders and find the back of the net.

Ballon d'Or created the Gerd Müller Trophy in 2021 precisely to recognise these players: the top scorers of each season.

The average height of the trophy’s winners is 1.87m.

The tallest winner in the award’s history is Erling Haaland, who won the trophy in 2023. At an impressive 1.95m, the Norwegian perfectly embodies the physical profile associated with many great centre-forwards. The shortest winner, meanwhile, is Kylian Mbappé, who won the award in 2024, standing at 1.78m – exactly the same average height as the winners of the main Ballon d'Or.

The profile of the Kopa Trophy winners

Mbappé was also the first winner of the Kopa Trophy in 2018, an award presented to the world’s best under-21 player each season.

Since then, the average height of Kopa Trophy winners has been 1.80m. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that many of the winners are still growing when they receive the trophy.

The tallest winner was Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt, who won the award in 2019 at 1.87m. At the other end of the scale, there is a tie between two Barcelona teammates: Spanish midfielders Pedri and Gavi, both standing at 1.74m.

The heights of the world’s best female players

Studies show that, on average, adult men are around 13 cm taller than adult women (National Library of Medicine).

This difference is also evident when we look at the average height of the winners of the Ballon d'Or.

Ballon d'Or Féminin was established in 2018 and, since then, four players have won the award. Their average height is 1.71m – seven centimetres shorter than the average height of the winners of the men’s Ballon d'Or.

The tallest winner was the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg, who won the first edition of the award in 2018, standing at 1.79m.

The shortest, meanwhile, is Aitana Bonmatí, the record-holder with three wins, who also won the most recent edition of the awards, standing at 1.62m.

The pioneers of the new women’s trophies

The other women’s awards at the ceremony were only created last year and, as such, each has had just one winner so far.

The winner of the Women’s Yashin Trophy, Hannah Hampton, is 1.73m tall, whilst the winner of the Women’s Gerd Müller Trophy, Ewa Pajor, is 1.67m tall.

Meanwhile, the winner of the Women’s Kopa Trophy, Vicky López, is the shortest player to have received any award at a Ballon d'Or ceremony. The 20-year-old Spanish midfielder is just 1.60m tall.

40 centimetres between the extremes at the Ballon d'Or

The difference between the tallest winner of any award at the Ballon d'Or ceremony – Thibaut Courtois, at 2.00m – and the shortest winner – Vicky López, at 1.60m – is 40cm, almost half a metre.

The tallest male and female players to have won a Ballon d'Or award (all categories):

  1. Thibaut Courtois – 2.00m

  2. Gianluigi Donnarumma – 1.96m

  3. Emiliano Martínez / Erling Haaland – 1.95m

  4. Alisson – 1.93m

  5. Ruud Gullit – 1.91m

  6. Rodri – 1.90 m

  7. Lev Yashin / Viktor Gyökeres – 1.89 m

  8. Harry Kane / Marco van Basten – 1.88m

  9. Cristiano Ronaldo / Matthijs de Ligt / Rivaldo – 1.87m

  10. Jude Bellingham / Kaká / Robert Lewandowski – 1.86m

The shortest male and female players to have won a ‘Ballon d'Or’ award (all categories):

  1. Vicky López – 1.60m

  2. Aitana Bonmatí – 1.62m

  3. Omar Sívori – 1.63m

  4. Allan Simonsen – 1.65m

  5. Ewa Pajor – 1.67m

  6. Megan Rapinoe / Raymond Kopa – 1.68 m

  7. Lionel Messi – 1.70 m

  8. Luka Modrić – 1.72 m

  9. Alexia Putellas / Bobby Charlton / Hannah Hampton / Kevin Keegan / Michael Owen – 1.73 m

  10. Gavi / Igor Belanov / Lothar Matthäus / Paolo Rossi / Pedri / Roberto Baggio – 1.74 m