世界杯：足球运动员合适的身高是多少？
World Cup: what’s just the right height for a soccer pl…
Despite some XL players, such as Norway’s 195cm Erling Braut Haaland, the average height of all the teams is strikingly similar.
尽管有一些身材魁梧的球员，例如挪威的埃尔林·布劳特·哈兰德（Erling Braut Haaland），身高达到195厘米，但所有球队的平均身高却惊人地相似。
It’s a Darwinian jungle out there in sportsland. Players with the right stuff are selected, and those without it end up on the sidelines. If you haven’t got what it takes, they won’t take what you’ve got.
体育界就像一个达尔文式的丛林。拥有正确素质的球员会被选中，而没有的人则只能在场边观望。如果你缺乏必要的才能，别人就不会接受你拥有的东西。
This certainly applies to skill, grit, stamina and strength, but also to body size and shape.
这当然适用于技能、毅力、耐力和力量，但也适用于体型和身形。
What researchers call the “Law of Morphological Optimisation” tells us that athletes who have the right bodies for their sport are the ones who succeed. We’ve recently seen that in the NBA finals in the towering figure of San Antonio Spurs player Victor Wembanyana (224cm) .
研究人员称之为“形态优化定律”，告诉我们，那些拥有适合其运动的身体素质的运动员才是成功的。最近我们在NBA总决赛中看到了这一点，来自圣安东尼奥马刺队的球员维克多·温班亚纳（Victor Wembanyana）（224厘米）就是最好的例子。
But what about soccer players? Is there an optimal height for an elite footballer?
但足球运动员呢？对于一名精英足球运动员来说，是否存在最佳身高？
Finding just the right height for a soccer player
为足球运动员找到合适的身高
World Cup players seem to come in all sizes: from XS (Argentina’s Diego Maradona, 165cm) and S (Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who as a child suffered growth hormone deficiency, is 170cm) to M (Brazil’s Pelé, 173cm) , L (France’s Zinedine Zidane, 185cm) and even XL (Norway’s Erling Braut Haaland is 195cm) .
世界杯球员的身高似乎五花八门：从XS码（阿根廷的迭戈·马拉多纳，165厘米）和S码（阿根廷的利奥内尔·梅西，他儿时患有生长激素缺乏症，身高170厘米），到M码（巴西的贝利，173厘米），L码（法国的齐เน丁· Zidane，185厘米），甚至XL码（挪威的埃尔林·布劳特·哈兰德，195厘米）。
The winners of the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world have been a whole range of heights. Messi, as mentioned, is just 170cm, while Spain’s Rodrigo Hernández Cascante (better known as Rodri) is 190cm.
获得国际足联最佳球员奖球星大奖的冠军们身高的范围非常广。如前所述，梅西只有170厘米，而西班牙的罗德里戈·埃尔南德斯·卡斯坎特（更名为罗德里）则高达190厘米。
There is also no straight-line correlation between average team height and team performance.
平均球队身高与球队表现之间也没有直线关联。
World Cup winners Argentina, Spain and Brazil have been among the shorter teams over the years. So parents of aspiring Socceroos needn’t worry too much about their height.
多年来，世界杯冠军阿根廷、西班牙和巴西都属于体型偏小的国家。因此，有志成为“足球小子”的父母不必过于担心孩子的身高问题。
There is, however, one unusual thing about the height of World Cup teams: the average height of all the teams is strikingly similar.
然而，关于世界杯球队身高的一个不寻常之处是：所有球队的平均身高惊人地相似。
In the vast majority of the 48 teams at this year’s World Cup, the average height is between 180cm and 185cm.
在今年世界杯的48支队伍中，绝大多数球队的平均身高都在180厘米到185厘米之间。
Media outlets report the two tallest teams – the Bosnians and the Norwegians – average 187cm, while the Australian team averages 183cm. The shortest team is the Saudis, at 178cm.
媒体报道称，最高的两支队伍——保和黑客利亚和挪威队——平均身高达187厘米，而澳大利亚队的平均身高为183厘米。体型最小的是沙特阿拉伯队，平均身高为178厘米。
Players are, on average, taller than typical men of the same age from the same country.
总的来说，球员的平均身高比来自同一国家、同年龄段的普通男性要高。
What’s remarkable is that the difference between team height and population height is greater for short countries, and less for tall countries.
引人注目的是，球队身高等于人口平均身高之间的差异对于身材矮小的国家更大，而对于身材高大的国家则较小。
The data suggest every team is looking for some players about 180–185cm tall, which may be just the right height for a soccer player.
数据显示，每支队伍都在寻找一些身高大约在180–185厘米左右的球员，这可能正是足球运动员最合适的体型。
To understand why this might be so, we need to look at the dynamics of the game.
要了解为什么会这样，我们需要研究一下这项运动的动态变化。
The right height for the job
合适的体型适合岗位
Player height is specific to the demands of the position.
球员的身高需要根据其所担任的职位要求来确定。
Goalkeepers are by far the tallest (189cm is about the World Cup average) because they need exceptional reach to block shots.
守门员是所有位置中最高的（189厘米大约是世界杯平均身高），因为他们需要出色的臂展来封堵射门。
Australia’s tallest ever World Cup player was the 202cm goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac. At one point, there was even discussion of enlarging the goals because goalkeepers were getting so big.
澳大利亚有史以来最高的世界杯球员是202厘米的守门员泽尔季科·卡拉茨。曾一度甚至讨论过要扩大球门尺寸，因为守门员们变得太高了。
The main role of defenders is to get in the way of attackers and compete for aerial balls (especially via headers) so they are also quite tall: 183cm, on average.
后卫的主要任务是阻碍进攻球员并争抢空中球（尤其是头球），因此他们也需要身材较高：平均183厘米。
Messi has scored just over 30 headers in his career so far, while the much taller Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more than 150. Taller players also perform better in defensive walls when a free kick is awarded.
梅西职业生涯至今的头球进球刚超过30个，而明显更高的克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多则超过了150个。体型较高的球员在获得任意球时参与防守墙也会表现得更好。
Attacking players – midfielders and forwards – need to be mobile with high acceleration, so they tend to be a little shorter at about 175–180cm. Two of the greatest ever attackers – Maradona (165cm) and Messi (170cm) – have been quite short.
进攻球员——中场和前锋——需要具备高机动性和高加速度，因此他们往往身材稍矮一些，大约在175–180厘米左右。历史上最伟大的两位攻击手——马拉多纳（165厘米）和梅西（170厘米）——都属于偏矮体型。
It seems World Cup teams need at least some players who are large enough to win headers, form defensive walls and block opponents.
看来世界杯球队至少需要一些足够高大、能够赢得头球、组成防守墙并封堵对手的球员。
And once one team has players of this size, other teams also need to choose players of a similar size to remain competitive — it’s a kind of anthropometric arms race. This can be challenging for generally short nations such as Mexico and Ecuador.
一旦一支队伍拥有了这种身高的球员，其他队伍也必须选择相似身高的球员才能保持竞争力——这是一种人体测量学上的军备竞赛。这对墨西哥和厄瓜多尔等普遍身材较矮的国家来说可能会是一个挑战。
The long and the short of it
长话短说
Height is certainly not as valuable an asset for a soccer player as other characteristics such as ball skills, stamina, agility, the ability to read the play and sense where players are on the field – all of which have little to do with height.
对于一名足球运动员来说，身高肯定不是像球技、耐力、敏捷性、阅读比赛的能力以及感知场上球员位置等其他特征那样有价值的资产——而这些特征与身高几乎无关。
For this reason, we only rarely see extremely tall soccer players.
因此，我们很少看到特别高的足球运动员。
There are far fewer very tall men in the population, and hence fewer very tall men with superb ball skills.
人口中非常高的男性数量就少得多，因此拥有出色球技的超高个子男性也更少。
Your guess as to who will win the World Cup is as bad as mine. But I can say with confidence that it will be a team of young men of somewhat above average height.
你对世界杯冠军的猜测和我一样糟糕。但我可以自信地说，那将是一支体格略高于平均水平的年轻男球员组成的队伍。
And it will be France.
而且会是法国队。
Maybe.
也许吧。
Tim Olds has received funding from the Australian Sports Commission.
Tim Olds获得了澳大利亚体育委员会的资助。
