Goalkeeper (association football)


The goalkeeper is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from scoring a "goal". This is accomplished by the goalkeeper moving into the trajectory of the ball to either catch it or re-direct it away from the vicinity of the goal. Within the penalty area, goalkeepers are allowed to use their hands, giving them the sole rights on the field to handle the ball. The goalkeeper is indicated by wearing a different coloured kit from their teammates and opposition.
The back-pass rule is a rule that disallows handling passes back to keepers from teammates in most cases. Goalkeepers usually perform goal kicks and also give commands to their defense during corner kicks, direct and indirect free kicks, and marking. Goalkeepers play an important role in directing onfield strategy as they have an unrestricted view of the entire pitch, giving them a unique perspective on play development.
The goalkeeper is the only mandatory position of a team. If they are injured or sent off, another player must take their place. To replace a goalkeeper who is sent off, a team usually brings on a substitute keeper in place of an outfield player to ensure they still play an outfield player down. If a team does not have a substitute goalkeeper, or they have already used all of their permitted substitutions for the match, an outfield player has to play as goalkeeper.
Because the position requires different skills from the outfielders, goalkeepers train separately from their teammates and often work with a goalkeeping coach to develop their play. While outfielders typically must be in good cardiovascular shape to play up to 90 minutes in a match, a goalkeeper must be able to move quickly and have fast feet for little bursts. During a match, goalkeepers may get a lot of action, usually in brief intervals, until their teammates can clear the ball out of the zone. During practice, goalkeepers focus heavily on footwork and being able to get up quickly after a save is made. A goalkeeper must be able to get set, meaning feet shoulder width apart and on their toes, before the next shot comes their way, so they can react and make the save.
As with all players, goalkeepers may wear any squad number, but the number 1 is almost always reserved for a team's first-choice goalkeeper, and the number 13 for the second-choice or backup goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper is notably the only position that is not included in formations. This is because the goalkeeper is the only non-outfielder position and the only compulsory position in football.
Although not essential, goalkeepers are typically tall players due to the height of the goal and the number of crosses, corners, and high shots in football.

History

Association football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics resulting in the generation and elimination of different positions. Goalkeeper is the only position that is certain to have existed since the codification of the sport. Even in the early days of organised football, when systems were limited or non-existent and the main idea was for all players to attack and defend, teams had a designated member to play as the goalkeeper.
The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581 and does not specify goalkeepers. The earliest specific reference to keeping goals comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. According to Carew: "They pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foot asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelve score off, other twayne in like distance, which they term their Goals. One of these is appointed by lots, to one side, and the other to his adverse party. There is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers." Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 17th century; for example, in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green : "I'll play a gole at camp-ball". Similarly, in a 1613 poem, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe". It seems inevitable that wherever a game has evolved goals, some form of goalkeeping must also be developed. David Wedderburn refers to what has been translated from Latin as to "keep goal" in 1633, although this does not necessarily imply a fixed goalkeeper position.
The word "goal-keeper" is used in the novel Tom Brown's School Days. The author is here referring to an early form of rugby football:
The word "goal-keeper" appeared in the Sheffield Rules of 1867, but the term did not refer to a designated player, but rather to "that player on the defending side who for the time being is nearest to his own goal". The goalkeeper, thus defined, did not enjoy any special handling privileges.
The FA's first Laws of the Game of 1863 did not make any special provision for a goalkeeper, with any player being allowed to catch or knock on the ball. Handling the ball was completely forbidden in 1870. The next year, 1871, the laws were amended to introduce the goalkeeper and specify that the keeper was allowed to handle the ball "for the protection of his goal". The restrictions on the ability of the goalkeeper to handle the ball were changed several times in subsequent revisions of the laws:
  • 1871: the keeper may handle the ball only "for the protection of his goal".
  • 1873: the keeper may not "carry" the ball.
  • 1883: the keeper may not carry the ball for more than two steps.
  • 1887: the keeper may not handle the ball in the opposition's half.
  • 1901: the keeper may handle the ball for any purpose.
  • 1905: the keeper may not advance beyond his goalline when defending against a penalty kick.
  • 1912: the keeper may handle the ball only in the penalty area.
  • 1931: the keeper may take up to four steps while carrying the ball.
  • 1992: the keeper may not handle the ball after it has been deliberately kicked to him/her by a team-mate.
  • 1997: the keeper may not handle the ball for more than six seconds.
  • 2025: the keeper may not handle the ball for more than eight seconds.
Initially, goalkeepers typically played between the goalposts and had limited mobility, except when trying to save opposition shots. Throughout the years, the role of the goalkeeper has evolved, due to the changes in systems of play, to become more active. The goalkeeper is the only player in association football allowed to use their hands to control the ball.
During the 1935–36 English football season, young Sunderland AFC goalkeeper of the team, Jimmy Thorpe, died as a result of a kick in the head and chest after he had picked up the ball following a backpass in a game against Chelsea at Roker Park. He continued to take part until the match finished, but collapsed at home afterward and died in hospital four days later from diabetes mellitus and heart failure "accelerated by the rough usage of the opposing team". The tragic end to Thorpe's career led to a change in the rules, where players were no longer allowed to raise their foot to a goalkeeper when he had control of the ball in his arms.

Rules aimed at time-wasting

Due to several time-wasting techniques that were used by goalkeepers, such as bouncing the ball on the ground or throwing it in the air and then catching it again, in the 1960s, the Laws of the Game were revised further, and the goalkeeper was given a maximum of four steps to travel while holding, bouncing or throwing the ball in the air and catching it again, without having to release it into play. The FIFA Board later also devised an anti-parrying rule, saying that such deliberate parrying to evade the Law was to be regarded also as holding the ball.
In 1992, the International Football Association Board made changes in the laws of the game that affected goalkeepers—notably the back-pass rule, which prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball when receiving a deliberate pass from a teammate that is made with their feet. This rule change was made to discourage time-wasting and overly defensive play after the 1990 FIFA World Cup which was described as exceedingly dull, rife with back-passing and goalkeepers holding the ball. Also, goalkeepers would frequently drop the ball and dribble it around, only to pick it up again once opponents came closer to put them under pressure, a typical time-wasting technique. Therefore, another rule was introduced at the same time as the back-pass rule. This rule prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball again once the ball is released for play; an offense results in an indirect free kick to the opposition. Furthermore, any player negating the spirit of the new rule would be likely to be cautioned for unsporting behaviour and punished by an indirect free-kick.
On 1 July 1997, FIFA decided to extend the back-pass rule by applying it also to throw-ins from defenders to their goalkeeper. To prevent further time-wasting, FIFA also established that if a goalkeeper holds the ball for more than six seconds the referee must adjudge this as time-wasting and award an indirect free-kick to the opposing team. In practice, this rule is rarely enforced: a 2019 study of 45 Bundesliga matches found the goalkeepers violating it in 38.4% of instances of ball handling, none of which were penalised. An example of this rule being enforced in a high-profile match was at the London 2012 Summer Olympics Women's Football semi-final game between the United States and Canada. With Canada in front 3–2 late in the game, their goalkeeper Erin McLeod grabbed the ball from a corner kick and then held onto it for 10 seconds despite being warned by the referee not to waste time. The indirect free kick resulted in a penalty being called for a handball offence, which was scored to make it 3–3 and take the game to extra time, where the United States won the game 4–3.
On 1 March 2025, IFAB approved the change of law 12.2 of the Laws of the Game, and decided to allow goalkeepers to handle the ball for a maximum of eight seconds, and, if violated, the referee would give a corner kick to the opposing team. This ensured more enforcement of the rule.