Rising Above: How Short Centre-Backs Succeed At The Elite Level

There seems to be a common notion these days that centre-backs need to be a certain height to be effective at the top level. 

Sure, tall defenders have some advantages, but as this data analysis will uncover, centre-backs under six feet tall also have the potential to be effective.

Plenty of ‘short’ central defenders have been successful at the top level over the years—Fabio Cannavaro, Carles Puyol, Franco Baresi, and Bobby Moore, to name but a few—legendary names in our sport who were not hampered by their height.

In recent years, we’ve seen César Azpilicueta do a fine job at centre-back in the Premier League for Chelsea. 

Another former Chelsea player, Thiago Silva, has also had a very successful career as a central defender under six feet.

The height of a central defender has always been a talking point. 

Depending on team tactics and other factors, some sides prefer to sign a physical presence at the back, but there seems to be more attention on some shorter centre-backs than others.

Take Lizandro Martínez, for example. 

He did a stellar job in the Eredivisie for Ajax and is now a regular starter for Manchester United despite a somewhat rocky start to life in the Premier League. 

Yet, due to his height, he receives more negative attention than some of the other shorter centre-backs in the Premier League.

We aren’t saying that Martínez, in this example, should be regarded in the same bracket as the legendary names we mentioned earlier. 

Still, we cannot disregard a central defender because of their height—this data analysis looks to uncover how short centre-backs can be effective in elite football.

Criteria

To get a good sample size and a wide range of different football tactics, we extended our search beyond just the English Premier League—all defenders involved in this data analysis are, as of the start of the 24/25 league campaign, playing for clubs in either the Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, or Italy’s Serie A (doing it this way also allowed us to include a higher number of ‘high profile/value’ players).

The data used in this analysis dates back to the beginning of the 23/24 campaign, giving us more reliable data to work with rather than using player statistics from the opening 10 or so games from this season.

While some of the players on this list can and have also played in other positions, according to Wyscout, we have selected players whose primary position is central defender.

There was no minimum limit for the number of minutes played, and only one player involved has featured in less than 1000 minutes of league football since the start of last season.

Regarding the search itself, we conducted two searches – one that shows us centre-backs over 6 feet (183cm+) and one that shows us centre-backs under 6 feet (182cm and under).

The latter of the above came first as there are fewer short centre-backs in the given leagues than tall centre-backs—the search gave us six centre-backs from the EPL, four from Serie A, and 14 from La Liga, for a total of 24 centre-backs.

When it came to the search for 6-foot-plus centre-backs, we replicated the results of the prior search to give us our 24 tall centre-backs – the top 6 from the EPL, the top four from Serie A, and the top 14 from La Liga based on market value.

Defensive Contribution

Regardless of height, being an effective competitor in terms of defensive actions is a given.

We start with the metric that brings the most attention regarding short defenders – aerial duels.

Some argue that any centre-back at the top level should bring enough physical presence to compete in the air and that shorter centre-backs cannot tick that box.