Height and size of center backs

As the game has evolved so has the physique demanded for certain positions, center back being one of the main ones, my question to you is do you think a center back under 5'11 can be successful? Puyol and cannavaro come to mind

They can, as long as they are paired with a tall center back or have a hell of a jump on them. They must also be strong.

Puyol is an odd case, he is considered a freak in the sense that he can jump so high (watch some of his corner goals) maintain high speed and be strong enough to push even the tallest strikers around, combine that with intelligence in defending (marking, tackling, awareness) then you can be a successful "short" center back which is hard to come by.
But when your not a goat like Puyol or Cannavaro they need to be very fast, very strong and paired with a tall partner.

size doesn't determine how good you can become... One of the greatest defenders is 5'9 in Fabio Cannavaro...

Well, taller CBs have it easier to maintain the 'sovereignty over the airspace', but I have seen midgets win headers against the tall guys, too. (e.g. Shaqiri with his proud 1.69m (5' 6 1/2") managed a headed goal against 1.94m (6'4 1/2") Filipenko and 1.87m (6' 1 1/2") Radkov in the CL match against BATE. ^^

rwo power wrote:Well, taller CBs have it easier to maintain the 'sovereignty over the airspace', but I have seen midgets win headers against the tall guys, too. (e.g. Shaqiri with his proud 1.69m (5' 6 1/2") managed a headed goal against 1.94m (6'4 1/2") Filipenko and 1.87m (6' 1 1/2") Radkov in the CL match against BATE. ^^

Messi and Ferdinand in the CL final come to mind too

El Shaarawy wrote:

rwo power wrote:Well, taller CBs have it easier to maintain the 'sovereignty over the airspace', but I have seen midgets win headers against the tall guys, too. (e.g. Shaqiri with his proud 1.69m (5' 6 1/2") managed a headed goal against 1.94m (6'4 1/2") Filipenko and 1.87m (6' 1 1/2") Radkov in the CL match against BATE. ^^

Messi and Ferdinand in the CL final come to mind too

Ferdinand was just ball watching in his defense.

Falcao has one of the best heading techniques in the game

Its not important.

Go back at some of the best defenders.

Forget Canna and Puyol....Baresi was 5'9, Ayala was 5 '9, Passarella was 5' 8, Bobby Moore im not sure but he was under 6 feet and there are many others.

The ball is on the ground far more than the air anyway, so give me a mobile defender who knows how to position himself over some useless giant anyday.

Of course you need some height for situations, but size of players in general is so overrated.

A lot of the all time greats weren't very tall, Baresi, Beckenbauer, Cannavaro, and Puyol.

They must have other attributes to compensate their lack of height.