At a time when football's development ought to favor physical strength and stature, the success of those like Lionel Messi (1.69m tall), who is playing for Spain"s Barcelona Football Club, appears to be counterintuitive.

But pint-sized players are flourishing in football for a certain reason, according to an article on the official website of the world football governing body FIFA on April 15.

"You don't need to be really tall or really strong to be a good player. And this situation is nothing new. The likes of Gerd Muller, Uwe Seeler, Diego Maradona or Jean-Pierre Papin weren't tall either," Sepp Blatter, FIFA President, was quoted as saying, naming just a few "little giants" in the sport over the years.

Indeed, football perhaps is the contact sport that "remains so open to smaller players" and one of the main reasons "comes down to biomechanics," according to the article. The center of gravity for shorter individuals is closer to the ground, which lends them greater balance.That’s why we often see Messi and Maradona fly all over the pitch, with balls glued to their feet and changing directions seemingly at will.

Another factor that seems to tilt shorter players in their favor is an extra dose of mental strength. Precisely because they start out with disadvantages in physique, shorter players often "give it 120 percent," the article quoted Bixente Lizarazu (1.69m), the former French international, as saying.

In fact, there are clearly countless more examples of "little guys" who have made history in football, and they are living embodiment that in football as in life, size isn’t everything, says the article.