Have you ever wondered how much the average soccer player weighs? Have you thought about where you stack up next to a Premier League defender or MLS striker?
To find out the measures for the average soccer player by division, we went to the source: soccer team rosters worldwide.
We pulled data from World Cups, Olympic Games, and soccer teams’ rosters for the past six years. Then, we averaged all the weights for each position.
Soccer players vary in size, and because weight is not that important to the sport, most soccer players are far from the average. The weights of soccer players range between 130 and 200 pounds, with the average being 170 pounds.
Learning about the weight of soccer players and what this means for the sport can be eye-opening.
The weight of players can still play a part in their performance, although not the most important attribute for success in soccer.
In this article, read about average and those above-average weights and what they mean for soccer players. Shall we?
What’s the Average Weight of a Soccer Player? (World Cups)
We have analyzed the last two World Cups (2018 and 2014) player data provided by FIFA, which included the weight, position played, and age of all squads of each nation represented (1438 players).
Similar data from players at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups have also been compared to this data.
To better comprehend the differences in this data and how it may apply to specific players and affect playing performance, we have been able to compare playing positions and teams.
Players’ weights clearly vary depending on their position on the field.
Players weighed an average of 77.2 kg (170 lbs). Roman Torres, a defender from Panama, was the tournament’s heaviest player at 99 kg (218 lbs), while a few midfielders were the lightest at 59 kg (130 lbs).
The goalkeepers stand out – they tend to be heavier than the field players. The lightest are the midfielders.
Taller players are expected to weigh more, so goalkeepers lead this category on average. The team with the heaviest players was Denmark (82.6kg), and the lightest was Japan (71.5kg).
Compared to previous World Cups, soccer players were quite heavier in 2018.
Average Soccer Player Weights in Top Leagues
Since we’re looking at a lot of diversity, we’ll look at the lightest and the heaviest players from leagues all over the world.
Serie A
At 58 kg, Lorenzo Insigne barely registers on the scales. He is followed by teammate Dries Mertens (59kg) and Simone Verdi (61kg) – right now at Torino, but on loan from the Napolitani.
Asmir Begovic of AC Milan tops the list with a reported 99 kg, about 5 kg heavier than the next competitor. He certainly seems to be an outlier, and alternative sources suggest that this weight may be disputed.
Begovic is followed by Inter’s Romelu Lukaku (93 kg), the player who gave this analysis its impetus, by a quartet of goalkeepers (Samir Handanovic, Juan Musso, Etrit Berisha), and Genoa’s French center-back Adama Soumaora, who are all 92 kg.
This puts the Serie A average around 76 kg (167 pounds).
Bundesliga
Here is a sortable list of the 600 professionals from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, with their height, body weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), and their current club.
These are the key points:
- The players are lighter than one might think: the average weight is only 76.24 kilograms
- Therefore, the body mass index (calculated as height divided by {weight times weight} for these 600 professional soccer players is 22.68.
- The lightest Bundesliga player is Takashi Inui (Eintracht Frankfurt), with a delicate body weight of 59 kilograms
- Lars Unnerstall is the heaviest player in the Bundesliga with his size and muscles – he weighs 98 kilos
- The “biggest” professional, i.e. the one with the highest BMI, is also a goalkeeper, namely Christian Wetklo (Schalke 04), who is 1.90m tall and weighs 93kg and has a BMI of 25.8.
- And according to our data, the “thinnest” professional is Niko Bungert (Mainz), who has a calculated BMI value of 19.2 (at the height of 1.88 m and a body weight of 68 kg).
Spanish LaLiga
We have analyzed the weight, height and, with this, the body mass index (BMI) of the 11 players from each squad who have played the most minutes in the previous LaLiga season.
Real Madrid ends the year as the team that weighs the most: its 11 most active members reach a total of 874 kilos. The average per player is 79.5 kilos.
For its part, Betis is positioned as the lightest club, with a sum of 790 kilos and the lowest BMI of the season. The average weight of its players is 77.7 kilos and their BMI is 21.84.
Loren Morón, from Real Betis, is the player with the lowest body mass index this season. With a weight of 66 kilos and a height of 1.88 meters, he has a BMI of 18.67.
On the other hand, who leads the ranking with the highest BMI is Chimy Ávila, from CA Osasuna. This forward, who weighs 81 kilos and measures 1.72 meters, has a BMI of 27.37.
How Much Should a Soccer Player Weigh?
According to modern sports doctors, the actual weight of a soccer player is not the main criterion. The main thing is the percentage of fat in the body.
According to generally accepted methods, it should not exceed twelve percent.
Youth players should not have more than eight percent of body fat. True, these indicators are very average. Each athlete they are individual. A fitness coach usually supervises them.
There are certain formulas that allow you to calculate the optimal weight of a soccer player. There is, for example, a very simple Brock index: the optimal weight of male football players – football players should be 0.9 of their height; in women, this figure should be 0.8.
However, one sports physician introduced some amendments to these data.
The weight of soccer players of short stature (up to 165 centimeters) can fully correspond to their height. Otherwise, their stability in the field will be insufficient.
There is also the Yarkho-Kaupe index. According to him, the ideal weight of a football player should be 375g/cm in height.
Of the stars of world soccer, the original Ronaldo was most often taken for extra pounds. He weighed about 90 kg, which doctors have always criticized. However, he always played at a high level, which cannot be denied.
Carvalho and Wagner stood out in modern European soccer, and their weight was noticeably above the norm. Carvalho, however, due to the extra pounds, was forced to finish football too early, but he still played very colorfully.
Sergei Ignashevich said he always considered 83 kilograms his optimal weight. During the match, about two kilograms disappeared from the body.
If the player’s weight was less before the football match, there was a noticeable lack of strength by the end of the game.
Goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatullin generally weighed 69 kilograms during playing time. He admits that as soon as this indicator became larger, he immediately felt that his jumping ability disappeared, and even the reaction noticeably worsened. Therefore, he always monitored his own weight very closely.
Why Excess Weight Isn’t Always the Problem
Whatever they say about the parameters of the body structure, which are considered ideal, there are quite a few well-known soccer players whose weight, to put it mildly, does not correspond to the standard.
You can’t call soccer heavyweights fat people, but they can’t be called thin and fit athletes either. However, this does not in the least prevent them from performing at a high level and achieving recognition from the fans.
One of them is Adebayo Akinfenwa, with 103 kg, the biggest heavyweight in soccer who doesn’t look like a professional soccer player. He has a characteristic nickname – the Beast, since collisions with this player do not bode well.
He spent most of his career at Wimbledon, there were clearly not enough stars in the sky, but the fans loved him very much.
But not only excess weight prevents the player from revealing himself fully. Sometimes it’s because of the lack of weight.
For example, Pele was often too “airy, even playing in the national team.” He was constantly knocked down. Doctors even developed a special diet for him to increase muscle mass.
Valery Kechinov from Spartak had approximately the same disadvantage. According to Oleg Romantsev, the striker was fabulously talented, but he kept on his feet very poorly.
Opponents quickly realized this and simply began to block him within the rules. As a result, he sat on a special diet, began to gain weight actively, and lost speed.
Weight in soccer is a delicate thing, and it should be approached carefully. Each organism has its own individual characteristics, and we can’t argue with that.
