Physical demands and characteristics of football goalkeepers

Introduction: Goalkeepers are important players in a football team. Their aim is to keep the ball out of the net. They are the only ones allowed to grip the ball with their hands. They have different physical characteristics and abilities than other players. They cover about half the distance of the field players. Although they have few actions, these are all (or almost all) decisive and of high intensity (jumping, diving, sprinting). The aim of this work is to analyse and summarize these characteristics and abilities for football goalkeepers.

Methods: A literature search was conducted using a database (PubMed) and relevant keywords in English and French such as goalkeeper, prevention, anthropometric and physiological characteristics. The majority of the articles used as references in our work were published in the last decade (1).

Results: Goalkeepers cover a shorter distance during a match (4 km on average) compared to other players (10-12 km) and perform mainly low intensity actions (Table 1). Training for goalkeepers should include technical, dynamic and explosive exercises and should take place in small spaces. The size of the field also affects goalkeepers’ activity, with larger fields resulting in lower intensity and smaller fields resulting in more reflex saves.
Most authors agree that goalkeepers are taller, heavier and have a higher percentage of body fat than other football players (2). Studies have also shown that these characteristics are also present in young goalkeepers. However, some studies have found that central defenders have even higher anthropometric characteristics. Studies have shown that goalkeepers have higher vertical jump scores in squat jump and counter movement jump tests compared to other players. Goalkeepers also score higher on agility tests, but there is no significant difference on flexibility tests. However, goalkeepers tend to perform less well in sprints of less than 30 meters and in endurance tests such as the Yo-Yo test. Studies of young goalkeepers also show similar results. Goalkeepers are slower in the first and last 5 meters of a 10-meter sprint, and distances covered in endurance tests tend to be shorter. Studies have shown that goalkeepers perform worse in ball control tests, and are slower in dribbling tests. They are also less able to juggle the ball, with elite goalkeepers juggling 106 ± 44 times compared to 173 ± 36 times for strikers and 106 ± 44 times for non-elite goalkeepers compared to 53 ± 43 times for non-elite players (Table 1). Goalkeepers also tended to initiate their movements later when making saves and were better at predicting and anticipating the actions of opposing players. Training methods that focus on visual and motor analysis, as well as specific training that uses verbal or color cues, can improve goalkeepers’ anticipatory skills. Studies suggest that certain anthropometric data can help determine whether a player has the potential to reach higher levels of play.

Conclusion: Goalkeepers are the tallest, heaviest and have the highest percentage of body fat. They have specific physical abilities with lower aerobic capacity and ball control than field players. It seems that specific and individualized training should be organized and adapted to improve their potential.