The goalkeeper's development over the years

On December 8, 1863, rules were introduced that prohibited players from handling the ball. One player was exempt: the goalkeeper. This can be considered the "birthday of the goalkeeper."

Initially, the goalie position was randomly assigned to a team member. The only criterion was the player's height.

But by the beginning of the 20th century, goalkeepers were still no different from other players in terms of appearance or the way they played the game. But innovations gradually emerged…

Over the years, the goalkeeper position has specialized and made the goalkeeper a field element for defending balls, but the development has continued, and currently the goalkeeper is used not only to protect your own goals, but to actually participate in defense, build attacks and hold on to the ball.

This way you use your 11th man. If your opponent doesn't do this, you immediately have a one man advantage.

Football formations only include 10 players (e.g.: 4-4-2, 4-3-3, etc.), but the game is played with 11!

There are teams that use an 11th man; in fact, almost all teams do, but you only see it for a very short period of time. When a team is desperately chasing a goal and the clock is ticking down, the goalkeeper will become more involved in the game.

He leaves the safety of his six-yard box and stays on the edge of his area; he sweeps behind his defenders who are spread out on the halfway line; and he plays long, raking, diagonal balls to those further up the pitch.

If he is able to play the role at this point in the game, why is he not able to do so earlier?

The conservative traditionalists in football see the reliance on a sweeper goalkeeper as a sign of weakness. The high defensive line and the goalkeeper's involvement seem to be the last resort of a desperate manager with nothing left to throw at the opposition.

Perhaps the tactic has this reputation because it is only used in the final moments of the battle.

The use of the keeper in the sweeper-keeper role is then the opposite of desperation.

Using the 11th man is a tactically intelligent innovation that is going to become more and more popular in the coming years.

In the sweeper-keeper role, he is more than just a netminder. His defensive skills, such as covering through plays and sweeping up behind the backline, allow defenders to push forward.

This in turn limits the space the opponent has in the middle of the field and forces the play into the opponent's half of the field.

The future of football is one where each position has a variety of functions. Defensive midfielders will not just break up attacks, strikers will not just score goals, and goalkeepers will not just prevent the opposition from scoring.