If you think Peter Crouch is the tallest football player in this world, you will most probably get flabbergasted reading this article. Having tall football players in your football team is an asset.
On our journey to compile the most accurate list of tallest football players of all time, we came across plenty of inaccuracies and historical evidence to make this a challenging proposition. The criterion for selection was that the footballer had to have played some sort of professional football during their career. This would be fitting to answer the eternal question: Who is the tallest footballer in the world?
Notable mentions: Although the likes of Peter Crouch, Jan Koller and Nikola Zigic are known giants in the game, none of them make the list of Tallest Footballers in the world. For the record, Crouch, Koller and Zigic are all 6ft 7.5in (2.02m), thereby just missing the cut in the list of tall football players. Quite a tall order!
Height: 6ft 8in (2.03 metres)
Country – Norway
Position – Goalkeeper
This tall Norwegian goalkeeper plays for Stryn Fotball, a third tier league team from Norway.
Opheim has also played for other clubs in Norway such as two-time Norwegian Premier League winners Lyn Football and the 1983 Norwegian Cup winners Moss FK.
Despite his large frame, Opheim never really made a mark for himself in the world of football.
#9 Even Iversen
Country – Norway
Position – Defender
The 31-year-old Norwegian defender hasn’t really played outside his home country.
The current whereabouts regarding Even Iversen are still unknown but most of them believe that Even is without a club at the moment.
The pinnacle of his professional career was when he represented three-time Norwegian League Champions Bode/Glimt between 2006-2007. He also scored 3 times during his 33 appearances for the club.
Iversen is, in fact, so off the grid, that even a vast google search did not turn up any images of him
#8 – Øyvind Hoås
Country – Norway
Position – Striker
Yet another tall bloke from Norway. But unlike the other two in our list so far, Hoås is some what recognized. He began his career at Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde FK and then moved to Fredrikstad two years later with both of these teams being in the top division of Norwegian Football.
Later, Hoås moved to a second division team Sarpsborg 08 with whom he enjoyed great success. He helped them achieve promotion in 2010 but they were relegated back to the second division in the very next year. Nonetheless, Hoås scored 44 goals in 128 appearances for the team.
He has been linked with a host of second string English teams in the past including Luton Town and Norwich City.
He currently plays for another Norwegian First Division team Hønefoss.
#7 – Tor Hogne Aaroy
Country – Norway
Position – Striker
The fourth Norwegian on this list, Hogne Aaroy is 36 years old and is an active footballer.
Aaroy is not only tall, he is beastly and quick. Despite his sharp finishing and classy first touch, Aaroy is highly underrated.
After beginning his career with Spjelkavik IL and having a couple of fruitless seasons with Frigg, Tor Hogne Aaroy moved to the most successful Norwegian Team, Rosenborg BK in 1999. He stayed there only for 2 years and his stay was marred by a series of successive injuries.
Then he moved to Aalesunds FK in 2011. At Aalesunds, he established himself as a prime goal scorer. He stayed with the club for nearly a decade till 2011, making 242 appearances and scoring 90 times. He established himself as an Aalesund legend, leaving the club in 2011.
Aaroy then moved to a second division team in Japan, JEF United for a year but has now moved back to Aalesund FC during the start of this season.
It kind of makes you think what would happen if Norway played for corners with these three still active and towering players!
#6 – Yang Changpeng
Country – China
Position – Striker
Yang Changpeng’s name is well known because of the trial that he had with Bolton Wanderers in 2006. Upon his arrival at Bolton, he was dubbed as the “Chinese Peter Crouch” but failed to impress and moved back to China.
In 2008, Yang was playing for a club called Wuhan Guanggu in China. But due to an on-field scuffle, the Chinese FA decided to ban the players involved in the scuffle for 8 matches and the team was fined 1,170 USD. Wuhan decided that the fine was unfair and after the negotiations failed, Wuhan decided to quit the league. This ironically resulted in a 44,000 USD fine. All the players of Wuhan were either loaned or sold.
Yang was loaned off to a third tier team, Three Gorges Kangtian, and later moved to Chengdu Blades, a second division team in 2010. He stayed with them for 2 years before being sold off to the newly formed Shenzhen Fengpeng in 2012. He failed to impress there too and is now playing with another Chinese team, Meizhou Kejia.
#5 – Costel Pantilimon
Country – Romania
Position – Goalkeeper
A familiar name for EPL fans, Pantilimon is the second choice goalkeeper of Manchester City and is officially the tallest player in the Premier League.
Pantilimon began his career at his boyhood club Aerostar Bacau. He was also a part of the U19 team of Romania at that time. Later in 2005, FC Politehnica Timioara secured his signature.
He made his way from the reserve team to replace Marius Popa as the first choice goalkeeper of Timioara in 2006. He made 93 appearances for the senior team helping them finish runners up of the Liga 1 in 2009.
Pantilimon brings his huge frame into the play while keeping. One of the prime examples for that is his performance against France for Romania in the 2012 Euro Qualifiers where he managed a clean sheet and his team defeated France 2-0.
During 2011, he was purchased by Manchester City as a cover for Joe Hart after their second choice keeper, Shay Given, got injured. In 2012, the loan move was made permanent for a fee of 3 million euros.
#4 – Lacina Traore
Country – Ivory Coast
Position – Striker
The 23-year-old striker from Ivory Coast is one of the most exciting prospects in football these days. At 6ft 8in, he can intimidate any type of defense.
Lacina Traore began his career at his boyhood club Stade d’Abidjan in Ivory Coast and later moved to CFR Cluj in Romania. He soon became a first team regular, scoring 14 goals in 44 appearances. In 2011, he was sold to FC Kuban in Russia for a fee of 6 million euros.
In the solitary season he played for FC Kuban, he had a devastating impact, scoring 18 goals in just 38 appearances and finishing as the third best scorer in the Russian League. Soon enough, he was purchased by Anzhi Makhachkala the very next season for a reported sum of 18 million euros. He had a very good season with them, scoring 13 times in 25 appearances.
When asked if he has an unfair advantage due to his height, he tells us that he relies not only on his aerial ability but also on his pace and power.
Due to financial problems, Anzhi might be looking to sell Lacina Traore at a cheap rate. He would certainly be a valuable asset for most teams, due to his unique and intimidating stature.
#3 – Vanja Iveša
Country – Croatia
Position – Goalkeeper
The 36-year-old veteran goalkeeper from Croatia has played for multiple clubs in and out of Croatia.
He began his career in 1995 with NK Istra, a club located in his birthplace Pula in Croatia. After playing for 2 other teams in Croatia, he made a move to the Australian league team Sydney United FC in 2002. After spending only a year at Sydney and making just 24 appearances, he came back to NK Zminj, another Croatian Football Club.
Iveša has enjoyed two very fruitful spells of football, one with his boyhood club NK Pula between 2004 – 2007 and then with Eskiehirspor, a Turkish Club between 2008 – 2012 where he made 121 appearances.
He currently plays for Elazspor, another first division club in Turkey.
#2 – Paul Millar
Country – Scotland
Position – Striker
Paul Millar is a 25-year-old British Third division striker who plays for Elgin City FC. He is also a full time fireman who works at the RAF Kinloss base at Moray in the Highland areas of Scotland.
And he is 6ft 10in tall!
To give you an idea of how tall he is, let us tell you about what Elgin City FC had to do. While walking onto the pitch, Millar kept cracking his head against the entrance of the door. So, the club staff had to heighten the entrance to the door so that Millar could walk easily.
That is how exceptionally tall Millar is.
With 66 appearances and 15 goals for Elgin City so far, Millar is doing exceptionally good for a part-time football player.
#1 – Kristof van Hout
Country – Belgium
Position – Goalkeeper
The 26-year-old goalkeeper is officially the tallest goalkeeper on the planet, measuring up to a monstrous 6ft 10 inches. He began his career in Netherlands at Willem II, the former club of Jaap Stam before he moved to PSV.
During his three-year stay at Willem, Kristof didn’t make a single senior appearance and was loaded off to Belgium to play for K.V. Kortrijk. He then secured a move to Standard Liege, one of the most successful clubs in Belgium.
He didn’t make much of an impact at Standard Liege and was transferred back to K.V. Kortrijk in 2011 where he spent an entire season as their first choice Goalkeeper. As off 2012, he plays for K.R.C Genk.
At 6ft 10in, I bet he doesn’t even have to jump to catch the incoming corners.
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