The Giants, footballers taller than trees, largest men in the game

Not many footballers are 2m in height. You have a few, and a number of them are naturally goalkeepers, but you will find others used in different ways, seen as “specials” in an attempt to win games with headers, or being used as central defenders, with a special focus on balls in the air.

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Peter Crouch might be the one we remember as the “long one” in English football, but you have others also with frightening heights, one was the former Birmingham City and Valencia forward Nikola Zigic.

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Before Peter Crouch appearing on the international stage, you had a certain Jan Koller, who had great impact on the teams he played for including the Czech Republic national team, probably being the one with most success all together, among the giants.

The goalkeepers of major heights, one to mention is current number one at Nottingham Forest, Costel Pantilimon, a 2m plus shot stopper. Former AC Milan and Australia international Zeljko Kalac was also a tall one.

A forward that cought the eye was Bolton Wanderers trialist Yang Changpeng. Sam Allardyce wasn’t convinced at the time that his Chinese experiment would be a success and the move never happened, with the tall Chinese returning to his homeland and adding up a number of games in different clubs.

The tallest player to ever be seen in professional football is 2,08m Dutch goalkeeper Kristof Van Hout who at 32 still is in the trade, playing at the moment for Westerlo. Another big guy is defender Lacina Traore, currently with Romanian club CFR Cluj. The 29 year old Ivorian international has a long life in football, being previously with a number of Russian clubs and also seen at Monaco.

A player often talked about is Paul Millar, who his equal in height to Kristof Van Hout, but is not rated as a full blooded professional turning out for clubs in the lower leagues of Scottish football. He scored a number of goals for Elgin City FC and if you would like to see him in action at the moment you have to follow a club in the Scottish Highland League named Deveronville FC.

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One not to forget is newly signed Ipswich Town goalkeeper Thomas Holy, coming in from Gillingham, moving over to England in 2017 after spending his early year in his homeland The Czech Republic.

Not many to count, and most of those tall athletes with an eye for sports tends to end up in Basketball as they might get more out of the height there than in football which is probably not the best place to be, but you see that with a grand talent you can even become a professional footballer reaching 2m plus.

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Norway might not be known for being the best football team in the World, but among hte highest men in the game, they are really seen topping the lists, with three big men among those 10 tallest ever seen in the game.

The names Kjell Petter Opheim, Tor Hogne Aarhøy, Øyvind Hoås and Even Iversen are all up there among the trees, all of them being 2m or higher, with Hoås being fifth on the list as you can see below,

Top 10, tallest footballers ever,

• 1, 2,08m,
  • Kristof Van Hout
    • Position: Goalkeeper
    • Nation: Holland
    • Date of Birth: 09.02.1987
    • Present: Westerlo
    • Level: Belgum 2nd tier
• 2, 2,08m,
  • Paul Millar
    • Position: Forward
    • Nation: Scotland
    • Date of Birth: 12.04.1988
    • Present: Deveronvale FC
    • Level: Scottish 5th tier
• 3, 2,06m,
  • Thomas Holy
    • Position: Goalkeeper
    • Nation: Czech Republic
    • Date of Birth: 10.12.1991
    • Present: Ipswich Town
    • Level: English 3rd tier
• 4, 2,05m,
  • Vanja Ivesa
    • Position: Goalkeeper
    • Nation: Croatia
    • Date of Birth: 21.07.1977
    • Present: Opatija
    • Level: Croatia 3rd tier
• 5, 2,05m,
  • Yang Changpeng
    • Position: Forward
    • Nation: China
    • Date of Birth: 01.05.1989
    • Present: Henan Jianye
    • Level: China 1st tier
• 6, 2,04m
  • Tor Hogne Aarhøy
    • Position: Forward
    • Nation: Norway
    • Date of Birth: 20.03.1977
    • Present: Retired, Previous: Aalesund FK
    • Level: N/A
• 7, 2,03m
  • Lacina Traore
    • Position: Defender
    • Nation: Ivory Coast
    • Date of Birth: 20.05.1990
    • Present: CFR Cluj
    • Level: Romania 1st tier
• 8, 2,03m
  • Costel Pantilimon
    • Position: Goalkeeper
    • Nation: Romania
    • Date of Birth: 01.02.1987
    • Present: Nottingham Forest
    • Level: English 2nd tier
• 9, 2,03m
  • Kjell Petter Opheim
    • Position: Goalkeeper
    • Nation: Norway
    • Date of Birth: 09.04.1982
    • Present: Amateur, Previous: Lyn Oslo
    • Level: N/A
• 10, 2,03m
  • Even Iversen
    • Position: Defender
    • Nation: Norway
    • Date of Birth: 14.02.1982
    • Present: Amateur, Previous: Bodø Glimt