I experience problems with disordered eating, and these problems are exacerbated by the fact that I watch so much professional soccer! It helps to keep in mind that professional soccer players are selected for having a very specific body type, trained to develop specific characteristics and skills usually from childhood, and then paid to work out basically full-time!

Comparing the soccer player data to the general population

Given the below data, we can see:

  • The Spanish elite non-professional players averaged BMI = 23.1 compared to the Spanish national average BMI = 25.2.
  • The Portuguese professional players averaged BMI = 21.6 (height = 167 cm; mass = 60.7 kg) compared to the Portuguese national average BMI = 26.4 (height = 161 cm; mass = 68.3 kg)
  • The unspecified European national team players averaged BMI = 21.9 (height = 167 cm; mass = 61.3 kg)
  • The general Australian population averaged BMI = 27.4 kg/m2 (height = 165 cm; mass = 74.2 kg)

Some interesting points:

  • The professional players seem to be simultaneously both taller and lighter than the general population. The professional players had BMIs about ~4-5 points lower than that of the general population, depending on country. This means that professional soccer selects for tall people who are naturally extremely slender or who work out to become extremely slender. This also means that if the general population had the same unusually tall average height as the professional soccer players, the general population’s average body mass would be higher still.
  • The two samples of professional players (Portuguese sample + unspecified national team) had very similar summary statistics to each other (average 167 cm and ~61 kg for both samples). This indicates that professional soccer indeed selects for (and trains to achieve) a very specific body type across different leagues and countries (though these were both European and there could have been some individual players shared in both samples).
  • Furthermore, the mean BMI of these two professional samples was 21.6 and 21.9, which is smaller still than the mean BMI of the elite but non-professional Spanish sample (BMI = 23.1). This indicates that the higher the level of soccer, the greater the departure of players’ body types from the general population; higher levels of soccer have more extreme body types.

Data

Godoy-Izquierdo and Díaz 2021, Inhabiting the Body(ies) in Female Soccer Players: The Protective Role of Positive Body Image

  • 45 Spanish federated non-elite female soccer players participated in this study […] These players belonged to national soccer clubs and teams competing at the two highest levels of amateur (non-professional) female soccer.
  • (following values are mean ± standard deviation)
  • age 20.9 ± 7.5 years (range = 13–44)
  • weight 62.7 ± 13.7 kg (range = 39–104)
  • BMI 23.1 ± 3.9 kg/m2 (range = 16.2–33.6)
  • According to their BMI, 60% of the participants were classified in the normal weight category (19.5–24.9 kg/m2), 22.2% in the overweight category (25–29.9 kg/m2) and 6.7% in the obesity category (>30 kg/m2), while 11.1% were classified as underweight (<19.5 kg/m2).
  • Around 2 out of 10 players were at risk of suffering from an eating disorder.

Oliveira et al 2021, In-Season Body Composition Effects in Professional Women Soccer Players

  • Seventeen players, Portuguese BPI League team (top-tier professional league)
  • (following values are mean ± standard deviation)
  • age 22.7 ± 6.3 years
  • height 167.5 ± 5.6 cm
  • body mass 60.7 ± 6.6 kg
  • body mass index 21.6 ± 0.2 kg/m2

Mala et al 2015, Body Composition of Elite Female Players in Five Different Sports Games

  • 18 soccer players from a European national team
  • (following values are mean ± standard deviation)
  • age (years) 23.2 ± 4.2
  • body height (cm) 167.3 ± 6.8
  • body mass (kg) 61.3 ± 5.5
  • bmi (kg/m2) 21.9 ± 1.4

Non-athlete data

  • This page reports some average height and mass data, by country, for women aged 18 to 25 (which seems to roughly correspond to the samples of soccer players in the above papers)
  • Spain average BMI = 25.2 kg/m2; height = 162 cm; mass = 66.1 kg
  • Portugal average BMI = 26.4 kg/m2; height = 161 cm; mass = 68.3 kg
  • Australia average BMI = 27.4 kg/m2; height = 165 cm; mass = 74.2 kg