In football, the goalkeeper occupies a position that represents the last line of defense between the opponent's offense and his own team's goal. The primary role of the goalkeeper is to defend his team's goal and prevent the opposition from scoring a goal. The goalkeeper is the only player who is permitted to touch the ball with his hands or arms in open play. Each team is required to have a goalkeeper on the field at all times during a match. If a goalkeeper is forced to leave the field due to injury or being sent off, another player must occupy the post, even if the team has no substitute goalkeeper available and/or has used up its allotted substitutions.

Goalkeeper is often abbreviated GK in lineup cards, match reports, and TV captions. The terms keeper and goalie are also commonly used. This position is colloquially referred as 'custodian' or 'the man between the posts'.

When assigning numbers to players on the team, if a squad number system is not in use, the number 1 shirt is usually reserved for the goalkeeper. Notable exceptions include Ubaldo Fillol, who wore the numbers 5 and 7 at the 1978 and 1982 FIFA World Cups, and Vítor Baía, the Portuguese keeper who wore 99 in the latter part of his career.

History

Football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics that have generated positions, as well as made positions disappear. Goalkeeper is the only position which is certain to have existed since the creation of the rules of the sport. Even in the early days of organized football, when systems were limited or non-existent and the main idea was for all field 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, however, he does not specify goalkeepers. The earliest specific reference to keeping goal comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. According to Carew: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foote asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelue score off, other twayne in like distance, which they terme their Goales. One of these is appoynted by lots, to the one side, and the other to his aduerse party. There is assigned for their gard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers". ^[1] Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early sixteenth century, for example in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent variety of football, which was popular in East Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613, 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 (however, contrary to media reports in 2006 he does not refer to the noun "goalkeeper". This is important as being a goalkeeper implies a fixed position throughout a match, whereas "keeping goal" suggests a temporary, fluid position accorded to whichever player or players find themselves nearest the goal. Wedderburn provides no evidence of such a fixed position on the field. It is not clear that what he meant by a goal was the same as modern usage; his word "metum" in the original Latin means the object to mark the end of a chariot race).

Initially, goalkeepers would typically play between the goalposts and had limited mobility, except when trying to save opposition shots. Throughout the years, goalkeeping has evolved, due to the changes on systems of play, to be a more active role. The original Laws of the Game permitted goalkeepers to handle the ball anywhere in their half of the pitch. This was revised in 1912, restricting use of the hands by the goalkeeper to the penalty area and goal box.

In the mid twentieth century, goalkeepers like Amadeo Carrizo pioneered a playing style that involved more mobility. He also helped introduce new techniques and strategies that would become a standard for the position. Carrizo was the first goalkeeper to wear gloves, the first one to leave the penalty area to defend his goal and the first one to use goal kicks as a strategy to start counter attack plays.

In 1992, the International Board made changes in the laws of the game that affected goalkeepers. Notably the back-pass rule, that prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball with their hands when receiving a deliberate pass from a teammate that is not made with their head, shoulder, or chest. As a result, all goalkeepers were required to improve controlling the ball with their feet.

General play and technique

The goalkeeper position is the most specialized of all positions on the field. Unlike other players, goalkeepers may touch the ball with any part of their body except when they aren't in the penalty area where they are not allowed to use their hands and arms.

Although goalkeepers have special privileges under the laws of the game, they are otherwise subject to the same rules as any other player. Goalkeepers are often the tallest member of the team and most stand over 6ft tall in western countries, with many well known keepers standing particularly tall at 6 ft 4 inches (193 cm). Famous examples include Peter Schmeichel, David Seaman and José Luis Chilavert who stand around this height. Other keepers are even taller. Petr Cech, Shaka Hislop, Edwin van der Sar and Andreas Isaksson stand around 6 ft 6 inches (198cm).

Some goalkeepers, such as Pepe Reina, Artur Boruc, Nelson Dida, Sergio Goycochea are specialists at saving penalty kicks.

Goalkeepers in playmaking and attack

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 during certain passages of the game. Colombia's René Higuita, Mexico's Jorge Campos and Liverpool's Bruce Grobbelaar were notable for their foot skills and their constant play outside the penalty area. Some goalkeepers have even scored goals; a number of goalkeepers have scored by rushing up to the opposite end of the pitch in order to create an advantage in numbers. This rush – nicknamed a "goalie run" – is risky, and is normally only done late in the game, in order to score a last-minute goal if the goalkeeper's team is losing (and only then, in situations where goal difference is unimportant). The action very rarely succeeds, although players like Michelangelo Rampulla, Jens Lehmann, Peter Schmeichel, Oscar Perez, Mart Poom, Marco Amelia, Andrés Palop, Brad Friedel, Massimo Taibi, Jimmy Glass and Mark Crossley have been able to score in these situations.

In some even rarer situations, goalkeepers have even scored goals unintentionally, when a ball punted downfield has caught the opposing goalkeeper out of position. Paul Robinson and Pat Jennings have both scored under such circumstances, co-incidentally both doing so for Spurs. Vitoria de Guimaraes' Palatsi also scored in that situation against Moreirense on a game for the Portuguese Liga. Serbian goalkeeper Dragan Pantelić and, more recently, Colombian "Neco" Martínez have also scored goals the same way.

Other goalkeepers have become notable at taking set pieces; for example, José Luis Chilavert, who is the only goalkeeper to score a hat trick (3 goals in a game), doing so through penalty kicks. He also was a free kick-expert. Rogério Ceni has scored the most amount goals for a goalkeeper, having scored 72 times (as of June 3, 2007) through free kicks and penalty kicks.^[2]

Equipment and attire

Goalkeepers must wear clothing that distinguishes them clearly from other players and match officials, as this is all that the FIFA Laws of the Game require. Some goalkeepers have received recognition for their match attire, like Lev Yashin who was nicknamed the "Black Panther" for his distinctive all-black outfit, or Jorge Campos, who was popular for his colorful attire. Goalkeepers kits are often a bright green or yellow.

Most goalkeepers also wear goalkeeper gloves to improve their grip on the ball, and to protect themselves from injury. There are now gloves that have features designed to prevent injuries such as sprained fingers. Gloves are not mandatory, however due to the increased grip they give it is very rare for a goalkeeper to play without them in professional matches. They may be removed for penalty shoot-outs though.

Petr Cech wears a headguard after fracturing his skull in a Premier League game against Reading F.C., many goalkeepers wear baseball style caps to shield their eyes from the sun.

Records

The most expensive goalkeeper of all time is currently Gianluigi Buffon (following his €52.29 million transfer to Juventus from Parma), followed by Angelo Peruzzi (€17.9 million from Inter Milan to Lazio). The British record is held by Scottish goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who signed for Sunderland A.F.C. from Scottish club Heart of Midlothian for £9m on August 7, 2007. The quickest goal scored by a goalkeeper is Nottingham Forest's Paul Smith after 23 seconds, on September 18 2007, when Leicester City showed great sportsmanship to give Forest a 'free goal' in the Carling Cup second round after the original tie was abandoned when City's Clive Clarke collapsed at half time when Forest were 1-0 up. Forest lost the eventual game 3-2.

Notable goalkeepers

Present day notable goalkeepers include Edwin van der Sar, Petr Čech, Jose Manuel Reina, Iker Casillas, Gianluigi Buffon, Santiago Canizares and David James.

IFFHS' Century elections

The following are the top 20 goalkeepers on the IFFHS poll for "The World's best Goalkeeper of the 20th Century."^[3]

1. Lev Yashin
2. Gordon Banks
3. Peter Schmeichel
4. Dino Zoff
5. Sepp Maier
6. Ricardo Zamora
7. José Luis Chilavert
8. Peter Shilton
9. František Plánička
10. Amadeo Carrizo
11. Gilmar dos Santos Neves
12. Ladislao Mazurkiewicz
13. Pat Jennings
14. Ubaldo Fillol
15. Antonio Carbajal
16. Jean-Marie Pfaff
17. Rinat Dasaev
18. Gyula Grosics
19. Ray Clemence
20. Walter Zenga

IFFHS' World's Best Goalkeeper of the Year

The following is a list of goalkeepers selected by the IFFHS every year since 1987 as "The World's best Goalkeeper."^[4]

1987 - Jean-Marie Pfaff 1988 - Rinat Dasaev 1989 - Walter Zenga 1990 - Walter Zenga 1991 - Walter Zenga 1992 - Peter Schmeichel 1993 - Peter Schmeichel 1994 - Michel Preud'Homme 1995 - José Luis Chilavert 1996 - Andreas Köpke

1997 - José Luis Chilavert 1998 - José Luis Chilavert 1999 - Oliver Kahn 2000 - Fabien Barthez 2001 - Oliver Kahn 2002 - Oliver Kahn 2003 - Gianluigi Buffon 2004 - Gianluigi Buffon 2005 - Petr Čech 2006 - Gianluigi Buffon

References

External links

• Goalkeeping tips with clips at jbgoalkeeping.com
• Polski portal bramkarski / Polish goalkeeper community
• Positions guide: Goalkeeper at BBC
• http://www.theglovebag.com The Glove Bag
• Goalkeeper fitness and training tips at keeper-skool.com