Reading the January/February edition of FIFA World magazine I came across a fascinating piece of research into the position of Goalkeeping conducted by FIFA’s Education & Technical Development Department.
The research covered 43 matches in many of the most prestigious tournaments in world football including the FIFA World Cup and UEFA Champions League and broke down the key elements of goalkeeping into statistical records.
Interestingly enough, it was found that the most common function a Goalkeeper was involved in was distribution from dead-ball situations – kick outs, free kicks, restarts etc amounting for almost 60% of all activities a goalkeeper was involved in. It was also intriguing to note that diving saves amounted for under 4% of Goalkeeping actions.
In fact it was found that Goalkeepers in general intervene with their feet almost twice as often as they do with their hands at this level of the game. It provides food for thought on what elements of modern Goalkeeping should be incorporated specifically into goalkeeping training sessions. It’s probably fair to conclude that Goalkeepers making saves/interventions and practising distributions with their feet in training should not be discouraged. It is quite clearly a vital part of the modern game.
In closing, I’ll leave you with some of the percentage statistics that the study published. I’d be very interested to hear your own views on these either in the comment section below or via any of the social media platforms listed.
Goalkeeping Activities
Standing Saves – 5%
Saves with a dive – 3%
Reflex saves – 1%
Ariel balls – 8%
1v1 Challenges – 4%
Distributions – 60%
Back passes – 15%
Please check out the latest edition of FIFA World for more great articles on this and other subjects.
Kind regards
K.
