Who Is The Tallest Player At The 2026 FIFA World Cup? Meet The Austria Goalkeeper Who Broke The All Time Record
He stands 2.05 metres tall, has played one match for Austria, and is third-choice goalkeeper in his own squad. Florian Wiegele has still made history simply by being named in it.
Florian Wiegele has secured his place in World Cup history without kicking a single ball at the tournament. Standing at 2.05 metres, or 6 feet 9 inches, the Austrian goalkeeper is officially the tallest player ever named in a FIFA World Cup squad, surpassing the previous record held by Netherlands goalkeeper Andries Noppert, who stood at 2.03 metres at Qatar 2022.
Who Is Florian Wiegele?
Born on March 21, 2001, in Graz, Austria, Wiegele began his career in Sturm Graz's youth ranks before breaking into the professional game with DSV Leoben in the Austrian Second League. He earned a loan spell back home with Grazer AK before signing with Czech First League side Viktoria Plzen, where he has made 31 appearances, keeping 14 clean sheets while conceding 27 goals.
His size eventually caught the attention of Austria coach Ralf Rangnick, who handed him his senior international debut in a 5-1 friendly win over Ghana in March. It remains his only cap to date. Despite the record-breaking height, Wiegele sits third in Austria's goalkeeping pecking order behind Alexander Schlager and Patrick Pentz, meaning his place in history may be secured entirely from the bench.
How He Compares to Other World Cup Giants
Wiegele is not the only towering figure in North America this summer. England's Dan Burn and Colombia's Álvaro Montero both stand at 2.01 metres, while Bosnia and Herzegovina's Stjepan Radeljic matches them at the same height. Historically, England's Peter Crouch at 2.01 metres and Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic at 1.95 metres were among the tallest players to ever grace the tournament. None of them reach Wiegele's mark.
At the opposite end of the scale, Panama's César Yanis stands at just 1.60 metres, giving the 2026 tournament a height gap of 45 centimetres between its tallest and shortest players, one of the more striking physical contrasts in World Cup history. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Norway hold the record for tallest average squad height, both at 187.2 centimetres.
Austria open their Group J campaign against Jordan on June 16, before facing defending champions Argentina on June 22 and closing against Algeria on June 27. Whether Wiegele ever takes the field is genuinely uncertain. His height alone has already rewritten a record that had stood since 2022.