Goalkeeper (association football)

[2] 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 quick and have fast feet for little bursts.

It is important that a goalkeeper is able to get set, meaning feet shoulder width apart and on their toes, before the next shot comes their way, so they are able to react and make the save.

Though not essential, goalkeepers are typically tall players due to the height of the goal & the number of crosses, corners & high shots in football.

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.

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 afterwards and died in hospital four days later from diabetes mellitus and heart failure "accelerated by the rough usage of the opposing team".

[16] 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.

The FIFA Board later also devised an anti-parrying rule, saying that such deliberate parrying for the purpose of evading the Law was to be regarded also as holding the ball.

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.

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.

[20] 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 then held onto it for 10 seconds despite being warned by the referee not to waste time.

The Laws of the Game distinguish the goalkeeper from the other players in several ways, most significantly exempting them from the prohibition on handling the ball, though only within their own penalty area.

Goalkeepers are not required to stay in the penalty area; they may get involved in play anywhere on the pitch, and it is common for them to act as an additional defender (or 'sweeper') during certain passages of the game.

[27] Manuel Neuer has been described as a sweeper-keeper due to his speed and unique style of play which occasionally includes him acting as a sweeper for his team by rushing off his line to anticipate opposing forwards who have beaten the offside trap.

[30][31] Hugo Lloris of LAFC and France and former goalkeepers Fabien Barthez, have also been described as sweeper-keepers,[32][33] while Claudio Bravo and Ederson Moraes have even been described as playmakers in the media.

[37] Sweeper-keepers have been popularised by managers who usually employ tactics inspired by total football, such as Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola, for example, and are chosen not only for their shot-stopping and goalkeeping abilities, but also due to their skill with the ball at their feet, their ability to pick out passes and contribute to the build-up play of their team, and their speed when rushing out of the penalty area to anticipate opponents, which enables their team to maintain a high defensive line.

Other than by accident when a long kicked clearance reaches the other end of the field and evades the opposing goalkeeper with the aid of strong winds and/or unexpected bounces, this most commonly occurs where a goalkeeper has rushed up to the opposite end of the pitch to give his team a numerical advantage in attack, leaving his own goal undefended.

As such, it is normally only done late in a game at set-pieces where the consequences of scoring far outweigh those of conceding a further goal, such as for a team trailing in a knock-out tournament.

Some goalkeepers, such as René Higuita, Jorge Campos, Rogério Ceni, Hans-Jörg Butt and José Luis Chilavert, are also expert set-piece takers.

Some goalkeepers have received recognition for their match attire, like Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union, who was nicknamed the "Black Spider" for his distinctive all-black outfit;[40][41] Klaus Lindenberger of Austria, who designed his own variation of a clown's costume; Jorge Campos of Mexico, who was popular for his colourful attire;[42] Raul Plassmann of Cruzeiro Esporte Clube and his all-yellow outfit; and Gábor Király for wearing a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts.

[citation needed] At UEFA Euro 2004, Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo famously took off his gloves during the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against England, knowing he was the next taker for his side.

After recovering from a near-fatal skull fracture that he had sustained in 2006, Petr Čech wore a rugby-style scrum cap during his matches for the rest of his playing career.

For example, Petr Čech received a head injury after colliding with another player during a 2006 game; a couple of months later he debuted wearing a rugby-style headpiece, a practice that he would continue to follow for the rest of his career.

After playing nine games on painkilling injections he underwent experimental surgery that required a two and a half year recovery and caused him to miss two entire seasons.

[56] Goalkeeper Ned Doig, who spent most of his career with Sunderland, set a 19th-century world record by not conceding any goals in 87 of his 290 top division appearances (30%).

[67] Gianluigi Buffon, Fabien Barthez and Iker Casillas hold the record for fewest goals conceded by a winning goalkeeper in a World Cup tournament at two each.

[citation needed] Fabien Barthez and Peter Shilton hold the record for most clean sheets in World Cup matches, with ten each.

[citation needed] Tim Howard holds the record for most saves made in a sing FIFA World Cup match, with sixteen against Belgium in the round of 16 of the 2014 tournament.