Academy Professor of Evolutionary Social Psychology at the University of Groningen, Professor Buunk, has participated in more than 500 scientific publications. As an example, see ‘Does the face reveal athletic flair? Positions in team sports and facial attractiveness’ (Personality and Individual Differences,Volume 43, Issue 7, November 2007, Pages 1960-1965.) ( Co-written with Justin H. Park and Martijn B. Wieling.)
“We conducted two studies in which women rated facial photographs of male soccer players and ice hockey players, and we found that the faces of goalkeepers/goalies and strikers/forwards were rated to be more attractive than the faces of their team mates.”
The findings of the study suggest (to the authors) a number of questions which may be candidates for inspiring future research projects :
“Are goalkeepers/goalies and strikers/forwards more symmetrical than their team mates? Do they have lower second-to-fourth digit ratios? Do they emit more sexually attractive odors, especially when the women smelling them are in the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle? And would these effects be found in other team sports with division of labor? Perhaps there is a grain of truth to the stereotype of the handsome football quarterback.”
The full paper may be found here.