In 2019, three scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology – Arve Pedersen, Ingvild Aksdal (Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Sciences) and Ragna Stalsberg (Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging) published a scientific study on women’s football.
It is called “Scaling football rules according to anthropometric and physiological sex differences: A fairer comparison of men’s and women’s football.”
The scientists compared the bodies of men and women. The main conclusion is that the rules of football are not adapted for women, they have to make extra efforts. Disclaimer: We compare the average indicators of ordinary people, but for athletes the difference is approximately the same.
• Height and goal size. Women are shorter than men: in the USA, the average height of a man is 176.4 centimeters, while that of a woman is 162.9. In football, the proportion is the same: at the last World Cup, the average height of male goalkeepers is 188.9 cm, while that of women is 173.5. The arm span (important for a goalkeeper) is proportional to height, here women are also inferior.
In women’s football, standard goals are used: 7.32 meters in length, 2.44 meters in height. A male goalkeeper of average height (let’s start from the data from the last World Cup) covers 75% of the goal, a woman – only 69%. A man can grow up to 200 centimeters and cover more than 80% of the goal, a woman rarely grows up to 190.
A logical step is to reduce the frame for women. The authors suggest 6.76 meters in length and 2.25 in height.