The importance of height cannot be overlooked in goalkeeping. It's not a coincidence that the average height of goalkeepers in the biggest football leagues in the world hovers around 6'2". Tall goalies have long reach, allowing them to make very critical saves; these can be the defining moments of a match. They also possess a sort of presence that can be intimidating to strikers. Very tall individuals can give the illusion of covering the entire goal area when faced in a one-on-one situation.

Even though height has its advantages in goalkeeping, it presents its own problems when it gets to the extremities. Extremely tall players are usually less coordinated, weak, and have very poor reflexes. These are undesirable traits in goalkeeping. This is the reason it's hard to find elite goalies over 6'7" in most of the major football leagues. Therefore, most of the goalkeepers on this list might be unknown even to hardcore football fans.