IT'S the World Cup season, and many fans are watching the matches to see their favourite team attempting their best to emerge as champion this time around.
While some were disappointed to see their team miss a goal because the ball was kicked too far, there were times when the players either hit the goalpost or the goalkeeper prevented the other team from scoring.
Perhaps a bigger and wider goal post would make the game interesting? Is it true that such a proposal to increase the size of the goal posts for a World Cup?
Verdict:
TRUE
The goalposts in a football field is usually 7.31 metres (24ft) wide by 2.44m (8ft) high in adult football since crossbars were made mandatory by the Football Association in 1882.
In 1996, US' Major League Soccer had made an attempt to increase the size of the goal during the FIFA annual meeting. However, the football leaders at the meeting reacted to the suggestion so badly that it was totally dismissed.
FIFA board member Graham Kelly was reported saying, “The reaction was such that the board felt it was inappropriate to even consider the matter in more detail."
The matter has not been discussed by FIFA since.
However, the suggestion was brought up again several years ago by former Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who pointed out the need to enlarge goalposts due to "anthropometric" shifts.
He noted that while he started playing in Parma in the Italian football league in 1998, he was among five of the tallest players. But as the years progressed on, there were more and more players as tall as he is.
"Goalkeepers have become bigger, that’s true. But outfield players have also become faster, unpredictable, and they hit harder. You can see the effect of the goalkeeper's height on long shots.
"Thirty years ago, for every fifty shots, you would score 10 goals. Today it's three. From afar it's much more difficult to score with a two-metre goalkeeper." he was quoted saying.
In 2020, university researchers carried out studies to see if football players have been increasing over the years.
Prof Adrian Bell from the University of Reading said: "Modern-day football is a global industry worth billions of pounds in revenue, yet it still uses laws on goal sizes drawn up in the mid-19th century.
"We suspect footballers' body shapes have changed, with more emphasis on fitness and diet, as well as growth in average height in the general population."
Dr James Reade, a sports economist from the University of Reading, noted that making goals bigger to increase the number of goals scored in matches has been a serious suggestion in recent years.
"Other rules have changed, so it's not inconceivable that this might happen.
"The more heights we collect, the clearer we'll be on whether players really have got taller, and by how much," he said,
While the goal posts remain the same size, what everyone should be looking out for now is which team will emerge as the biggest winner in the 2026 World Cup!
Source:
1. https://www.latimes.com/
2. https://www.bbc.com/sport/
