Top Short Footballers From Every Decade

Football is the most famous sport on this planet with billions of people connected to their favourite players every day. The best part about this sport is that it’s not partial to anyone and players with different physical features can play together making it the most versatile sport ever. The tall players are usually strong and possess traits like taking a long shot while the short footballers are usually extraordinary with many traits under their belt. We all know about the legend of football Leo Messi who is 5′ 7″ and still dominate the entire pitch by himself.

People do understand now that short footballers are bound to be more skilful on the ball compared to other players. We often see the shortest players among the top dribblers of any generation, the best short dribblers from the last decade were Iniesta, Coutinho, Shaqiri, Modric, Dybala, Insigne, Verrati, Hazard, Aguero, and many more.

Experts of football are partial to their opinions when it comes to the height of a player. Some people suggest that the tall players can do the same things as the short footballers and have other physical attributes too just like Cristiano Ronaldo. However, it is clear that less height does have some benefit for the players and it helps them to dribble and get past better.

Shortest Football Players Of Every Decade:

The 00s

Pedri 1.74m or 5’7″ 

The next big thing in FC Barcelona after the end of a glorious era that ended with Leo Messi leaving them. The Barcelona team is under redevelopment under their club legend Xavi who knows that young players are the future. The current Barcelona team is filled with young and promising talents who are bound to be great players in future.

The player has already made a name for himself after winning the Kopa Trophy over other great youngsters.

Phil Foden 1.71m or 5’61”

Foden is heading out to be the next club legend of Manchester City as he is slicing his way through to the first team by giving beautiful performances week in week out. The player also takes advantage of his physique to utilize it on the field for the team.

 

The 90s:
Eden Hazard 1.75m or 5’74” 
The king of Stamford Bridge used to dominate the entire Premier League in his prime. Eden Hazard is a perfect example of how height combined with skills can be the key to being the perfect dribbler or playmaker. The worst thing that usually happens with short footballers happened with him too, he was fouled too frequently and that has affected his career.

The short players are difficult to catch but easy to foul once they come too close and this is a major drawback for dribblers like Eden Hazard. Since his move to Real Madrid, he is yet to show his Chelsea form for them and it looks like we will never get a chance to see the old Hazard in Santiago Bernabeu.

Xherdan Shaqiri 1.69m or 5’54”

The people who know ball understand how good this guy was in his days, it was unfortunate he did not reach his prime but the amount of memories he gave to his fans is enough for them to realize that he is one of the best Swiss players ever. He moved to Chicago Fire FC from Liverpool as he was not the perfect fit in Klopp’s system.

 

The 80s
Leo Messi 1.69m or 5’54” foot
The most perfect player in the history of a sport is the perfect example if anyone ever wants to understand the gameplay of short football players. People who hate Leo Messi usually joke about his small height little do they know that Leo has achieved everything in his career even after people like them criticize him for his physical appearance.

No other player can control the ball better than Messi and that is one of the reasons why he is the greatest ever.

Luka Modric 1.72m or 5’64” foot

The Real Madrid midfielder is not among the shortest players who were born in the 1980s but clearly one of the finest from this decade. Luka Modric has maintained his level of football for a year and there is no surprise that he can also control the ball better than any other midfielders out there. The Croatian takes the help of his short height making it difficult for defenders to stop him in midfield or attacking positions. 

The only player to break the Cristiano x Messi decade long Ballon D’or streak definitely deserves to be on this list.

The 70s
Cafu 1.78m or 5’8″
The former AC Milan and AS Roma legend Cafu who conquered Italy from both these teams is certainly the best right-back of his time, he won multiple trophies in Italy and Brazil such as the Champions League, League Titles, Club World Cup and many other titles. Even if Cafu did not win anything for the club he will still be considered as a legend of the game as his international performances stand out from all the other legendary players. The Brazilian lifted 2 World Cups and 2 Copa America making him one of the best Brazilian players ever. He has the most international caps for Brazil and he is also the only player to have played in 3 different World Cup finals.

Roberto Carlos 1.68m or 5’5″

The Real Madrid legend was also known as the Bullet Man by fans all around the world. There was a time much before Marcelo when Roberto Carlos used to rule the full-back positions of Madrid. The player had a great journey throughout his career, especially in Madrid where he won 4x La Liga and 3x Champions League with them, some people also think that he was one of the main reasons for the glory Madrid reached during his time. Carlos has earned his place among the legends, the best full-back of Real Madrid of all time.

 

The 60s

Diego Maradona 1.65m or 5’4″

The Argentine was born in 1960 who paved his way to be among the most elite footballers ever. The skill and technique that he possessed were unmatched and nobody could replicate him. It was due to his short height he was often fouled but nothing stopped him, he holds the record for the most number of fouls (53) endured during the 1986 World Cup. Meanwhile, the player was full of life and he enjoyed all the privileges of being a footballer, he was often criticized for his drug abuse but that did not affect him as a person or as a footballer. Maradona lived a life of King Size.

Hagi 1.74m or 5’7″ 

The Greatest Romanian Footballer ever and one of the greatest attacking midfielders of his generation. Hagi is an ex-Real Madrid and Barcelona player who was the most successful midfielder of his time. He was awarded the Romanian player of the year 7 times during his career along with many other individual honours in his name. Although Hagi was a Romanian his career’s major highlight came when he moved to Turkey where he dominated the Turkish League till the end of his career. The young generation will not understand how good Hagi was in his prime.

 

There have been hundreds of other players from history who made a huge impact on the beautiful game. This list is not based on the supremacy of the players born in a particular decade but it is a random list of players from each decade. The best part is now we do know that height is an important part of the game and being short is not a weakness in football instead it somehow makes them more skilful and better.

Let us know if you think to add any players to this list.

Reference: 

Wikipedia

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