On Friday, FIFA released the official rosters for the Olympic soccer tournaments (FIFA.com, click on a team’s name and select “Squad List” on the next page; also in PDF format, which has additional data, namely caps and goals). The first part of this post is a table which lists the average and median ages and heights for each squad, along with the team’s rank for those statistics. The second part lists superlative statistics (oldest, youngest; tallest, shortest) for teams and players.
A text-file version of the rosters is available in CSV (comma separated values) format for those interested in doing their own analyses of the squads and players.
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NOTES
An average, or mean, is calculated by summing all the values in a set and dividing that sum by the number of values in the set.
A median is calculated by ordering all the values in a set (e.g., from most to least) and finding the middle value. If the set is even, as is the case with these rosters of 18 players, the median will be the average of the middle two values.
The median can be a more meaningful summary stat than an average/mean when one of the values (either high or low) is not balanced by an offsetting value, as in a team with an extra young player.
- Most of data — all except goals and caps — was copied-and-pasted from FIFA’s website. The only manipulation required on the original data was converting the birthdates from European style (day/month/year) to American style (month/day/year). Goals and capped were 10-keyed in, so end-user errors are possible for those numbers.
- These statistics only cover the official rosters for each team, i.e., the players with shirt numbers 1 through 18. The alternates (19 to 22) are not included.
- Age is as of the start of the women’s soccer tournament, July 25, 2012.
- All heights were kept in centimeters. (1 centimeter equals 0.393700787 inches; e.g., 167 cm is 65.75 inches; Google conversion calculator)
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TABLE #1: Age and Height Statistics, By Squad, With Ranks
TEAM AGE_A AGE_M HT_AVG HT_MDN | AAR AMR HAR HMR Brazil 27.56 26.98 166.06 164.50 | 2 4 7 T-8 Cameroon 23.07 22.46 162.56 162.50 | 10 10 12 12 Canada 27.41 28.27 169.33 172.00 | 4 1 3 1 Colombia 22.34 21.42 165.11 164.50 | 11 11 9 T-8 France 27.42 26.79 169.17 168.50 | 3 5 4 4 Great Britain 27.09 26.36 167.11 166.00 | 5 7 6 T-5 Japan 26.39 26.36 162.89 164.00 | 7 6 11 T-10 New Zealand 25.84 24.61 167.89 166.00 | 8 8 5 T-5 North Korea 20.66 20.48 165.50 166.00 | 12 12 8 T-5 South Africa 24.02 23.87 164.50 164.00 | 9 9 10 T-11 Sweden 26.74 27.10 171.50 171.50 | 6 3 1 2 United States 28.50 27.35 169.56 169.00 | 1 2 2 3 OVERALL 25.59 25.15 166.77 166.00
Legend:
“AGE_A” = Average Age
“AGE_M” = Median Age
“HT_AVG” = Average Height (in centimeters)
“HT_MDN” = Median Height (in centimeters)
“AAR” = Average Age Rank (from oldest to youngest)
“AMR” = Median Age Rank (from oldest to youngest)
“HAR” = Average Height Rank (from tallest to shortest)
“HMR” = Median Height Rank (from tallest to shortest)
TABLE #2: Numbers of Players By Selected Age Groups, By Team
TEAM U-20 U-23 O-30 Brazil* 1 3 7 Cameroon 7 12 0 Canada* 0 2 4 Colombia 5 14 0 France 0 3 4 Great Britain 0 4 5 Japan* 1 3 2 New Zealand* 3 8 4 North Korea* 10 17 0 South Africa 2 8 1 Sweden 0 3 2 United States* 0 2 8 ---------------------------------- TOTALS 29 79 37 ================================== AVERAGES 2.4 6.6 3.1 MEDIANS 1.0 3.5 3.0
Legend:
“U-20” = Number of Players Born In 1992 or Later.
(e.g., age eligible for 2012 Under-20 Women’s World Cup)
“U-23” = Number of Players Born In 1989 or Later (including U-20 players).
“O-30” = Number of Players Born In 1982 or Earlier.
An asterisk (*) after a team’s name means that the team’s federation will be competing in the U-20 WWC in August/September.
TABLE #3: Total Caps and Goals, By Team, Plus Other Related Statistics
TEAM CAPS-T CAPS-A CAPS-M | G-T G-M | CTR GTR GMR Brazil 841 46.7 36.0 | 188 4.0 | 7 6 T-5 Cameroon 378 21.0 18.5 | 50 0.5 | 10 10 12 Canada 1402 77.9 68.0 | 208 3.5 | 2 4 T-7 Colombia 222 12.3 13.0 | 46 1.0 | 12 11 T-9 France 1316 73.1 65.5 | 227 16.5 | 3 3 1 Great Britain 1120 62.2 64.0 | 183 6.0 | 5 7 4 Japan 1191 66.2 65.0 | 261 6.5 | 4 2 T-2 New Zealand 862 47.9 54.5 | 115 4.0 | 6 8 T-5 North Korea 235 13.1 13.5 | 36 1.0 | 11 12 T-9 South Africa 757 42.1 33.0 | 189 3.5 | 9 5 T-7 Sweden 824 45.8 33.5 | 95 1.0 | 8 9 T-9 United States 1702 94.6 76.0 | 335 6.5 | 1 1 T-2
Legend:
“CAPS-T” = Total Number of Internationals Caps Earned By the Team’s Players
“CAPS-A” = Average Number of Caps Earned By the Team’s Players
“CAPS-M”= Median Amount of Caps Earned By the Team’s Players
“G-T” = Total Number of Goals Scored Earned By the Team’s Players
“G-M” = Median Number of Goals Scored By the Team’s Players
“CTR” = Total Caps Rank (from most to least)
“GTR” = Total Goals Rank (from most to least)
“GMR” = “Median Goals Rank (from most to least)
France has the highest median for goals scored because they have 10 players with 16 or more goals, although the player with the highest number of goals (Marie-Laurie Delie) only has 33 goals. The other 8 players only have 8 goals among them, with 4 of those players having zero international goals.
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MAXIMUMS & MINIMUMS
Youngest Team
Average: North Korea (20.66 years)
Median: North Korea (20.48 years)
Oldest Team
Average: United States (28.50 years)
Median: Canada (28.27 years)
Tallest Team
Average: Sweden (171.50 centimeters)
Median: Canada (172.00 centimeters)
Shortest Team
Average: Cameroon (162.56 centimeters)
Median: Cameroon (162.50 centimeters)
Most Capped Team
Average: United States (94.6 appearances)
Median: United States (76.0 appearances)
Least Capped Team
Average: Colombia (12.3 appearances)
Median: Colombia (13.0 appearances)
Five Oldest Players
1. Jenny Bindon (New Zealand; goalkeeper) – 39.41 years (born February 25, 1973)
2. Sandrine Soubeyrand (France; midfielder) – 38.94 years (born August 16, 1973)
3. Christie Rampone (United States; defender) – 37.09 years (born June 24, 1975)
4. Rebecca Rolls (New Zealand; goalkeeper) – 36.93 years (born August 22, 1975)
5. Shannon Boxx – (United States; midfielder) – 35.07 years (born June 29, 1977)
Five Youngest Players
1. Raissa Feudijo (Cameroon; midfielder) – 16.74 years (born October 29, 1995)
2. Robyn Moodaly (South Africa; midfielder) – 18.11 years (born June 16, 1994)
3. Kim Nam Hui (North Korea; defender) – 18.39 years (born March 4, 1994)
4. Ri Nam Sil (North Korea; defender) – 18.44 years (born February 13, 1994)
5. Stefany Castano (Colombia; goalkeeper) – 18.54 years (born January 11, 1994)
Five Tallest Players
1. Wendie Renard (France; defender) – 187cm (73.62 inches)
T-2. Karen Bardsley (Great Britain; goalkeeper) – 181cm (71.26 inches)
T-2. Abby Wambach (United States; forward) – 181cm (71.26 inches)
T-4. Aline (Brazil; defender) – 180cm (70.87 inches)
T-4. Jill Scott (Great Britain; midfielder) – 180cm (70.87 inches)
Five Shortest Players
1. Portia Modise (South Africa; forward) – 152cm (59.84 inches)
T-2. Diana Matheson (Canada; midfielder) – 153cm (60.24 inches)
T-2. Gabrielle Onguene (Cameroon; forward) – 153cm (60.24 inches)
T-4. Shinobu Ohno (Japan; forward) – 155cm (61.02 inches)
T-4. Mana Iwabuchi (Japan; forward) – 155cm (61.02 inches)
Ten Most Capped Players
1. Christie Rampone (United States; defender) – 260 appearances
2. Abby Wambach (United States; forward) – 182 appearances
3. Christine Sinclair (Canada; forward) – 181 appearances
4. Homare Sawa (Japan; midfielder) – 179 appearances
5. Sandrine Soubeyrand (France; midfielder) -177 appearances
6. Shannon Box (United States; midfielder) – 168 appearances
7. Heather O’Reilly (United States; midfielder) – 166 appearances
8. Sonia Bompastor (France; defender) – 148 appearances
9. Carli Lloyd (United States; midfielder) – 135 appearances
10. Diana Matheson (Canada; midfielder) – 132 appearances
Ten Highest-Scoring Players
1. Abby Wambach (United States; forward) – 138 goals
2. Christine Sinclair (Canada; forward) – 134 goals
3. Homare Sawa (Japan; midfielder) – 80 goals
4. Portia Modise (South Africa; forward) – 71 goals
5. Marta (Brazil; forward) – 67 goals
6. Cristiane (Brazil; forward) – 57 goals
7. Noko Matlou (South Africa; forward) – 55 goals
T-8. Kelly Smith (Great Britain*; forward) – 45 goals
T-8. Lotta Schelin (Sweden; forward) – 45 goals
10. Shinobu Ohon (Japan; forward) – 37 goals
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NOTES: UNITED STATES
The USA has the oldest average age of 28.50, but is only the second-oldest based on the median ages, behind Canada: 27.35 versus 28.27. This is because the USA has 10 players under 28 years-old, compared to 8 players for Canada. The remaining 8 USA players are all over 30 years-old. No USA players are 28 or 29 years-old.
In terms of height, the United States is the second-tallest team by average height, behind Sweden (169.56 cm versus 171.50 cm) but third-tallest by median height (169.00 cm), behind Canada (172.00 cm) and Sweden (171.50 cm).
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