With the Women's EUROs well underway, Flashscore has looked into how goalkeeping has massively developed within the women's game and continues to set new milestones.
The goalkeeper position in football always carries an extra level of scrutiny. And while a mistimed tackle, a poor shot on goal, or a misplaced pass may indirectly have an impact on a game, goalkeepers may often find themselves at the centre of blame, as their mistakes often lead to goals.
Nowhere has the focus on the importance of goalkeepers been as intense as in the women’s game.
“I’ve seen better keeping in Sunday League”, “they need smaller goals” – such comments aimed at female goalkeepers may often be found across different sources of social media, even after spectacular goals.
YouTube is crammed with reels of monumental howlers, with comments from self-proclaimed experts who perhaps fail to apply context when a woman goalkeeper has failed spectacularly.
Goalkeeping errors have triggered debate
Obvious goalkeeping errors have often caused debates to resurface about how female goalkeepers just aren’t up to scratch based on unfair comparisons.
That was also the case two years ago during the FIFA Women’s World Cup, when South Africa’s Kaylin Swart allowed a soft shot directed straight at her by Lineth Beerensteyn of the Netherlands to slip through her arms into the back of the net, triggering collective abuse around the stadium.
Goalkeeping has been targeted as the position to describe the difference between the women’s and the men’s game most clearly, but you could argue that the debate has lacked an appreciation of how young the professional women’s game is, with the popularity of the women’s game having grown relatively quickly.
Transition from mere shot-stoppers
Today, women’s goalkeeping has undergone a transition from merely shot-stopping to being a part of defence, with a greater focus on distribution, starting counter-attacks, and taking a greater role in game management. But it has taken time for goalkeeping to catch up to the rest of the women’s game, as it was basically ignored in the beginning, according to former goalkeeper Martha Reyna.
Reyna today works as a data analyst of women’s football for Hudl (Hudl is a global leader in performance analysis technology, providing integrated software and hardware solutions that help teams train, recruit, develop talent, and compete at every level of sport) and has focused on the development of woman goalkeepers through her occupation.
“I think women’s goalkeeping has improved, but perhaps not as much as the general play. There was much more focus on scoring goals than stopping them in the past, so women’s goalkeeping has been overlooked, but now there is much more focus on the area,” says Reyna.
The importance of data technology
This is underlined by comments made by former Tottenham keeper, Cloe Morgan, for The Athletic. “You were put in goal if you were considered the weakest or least talented on the pitch — I can’t recall the sheer number of times I was told to get in goal because I’d cause the least damage there.”
Martha Reyna, who will take part in a panel discussion with Izzy Christiansen and Flo Lloyd-Hughes in London on Tuesday, July 9th, in connection with England's match against the Netherlands, stresses that access to data technology is one of the areas where women’s goalkeeping has taken great strides forward in the last decade.
“A part of goalkeeping will always be instinctive, but there is no question that greater access to data has accelerated the development of the women’s game. Today, you have data to show pretty much everything, how the majority of goalscoring chances are created, set pieces, penalties, or open play.”
“You can accurately map how teams attack, how they organise for set pieces, and goalkeepers have data on where the most likely penalty takers would aim and their success rate. So technically they are equipped at a much different level than we have seen before,” says Reyna.
Stats underline crucial development
Reyna has retrieved stats-bomb data from the Women’s EUROs since the 2005 tournament. Part of it includes a positioning error metric, which is the distance on average that the goalkeeper diverges from the optimal position for each shot faced. The data shows that positioning errors by women's goalkeepers have decreased throughout the history of the EUROs, with 2022 being the lowest on average.
Hudl Performance dataMartha Reyna, Hudl
Reyna’s research has also shown that the number of shots from outside the box has decreased, indicating that goalkeepers are much more likely to save long-range attempts today than earlier. At the same time, shots closer to goal also mean that goalkeepers are significantly more challenged today (the shot quality at the last EUROs was the highest since 2009).
Hudl Performance dataMartha Reyna, Hudl
Hudl, Performance DataMartha Reyna, Hudl
Data also reveals that the length of goalkeepers’ passes has decreased, with the 2022 EUROs being the shortest average distance that goalkeepers have passed the ball. This is clear evidence that goalkeepers take a much more active role in building up play from the back to release pressure on the back four.
Hudl Performance DataMartha Reyna, Hudl
Introduction of goalkeeper coaches
A common denominator for the development of women's goalkeepers has been the introduction of specific goalkeeping coaches, which wasn’t necessarily a common feature within clubs just a decade ago.
The role of goalkeeper coaches in women's football has grown significantly as the women's game has become more professional and competitive. While specialist goalkeeper coaches used to be a rarity in the game, they are now increasingly common, with clubs recognising the importance of dedicated training and development for their goalkeepers.
“Goalkeeper coaches have had a tremendous impact on the development of the women’s game, not only in terms of distribution, decision-making, and contributing to the team's build-up play but also for ensuring a pipeline of players for the future and developing the mental aspects of the game,” says Reyna.
As a consequence, several women goalkeepers like Mary Earps, Bente Nordby, Ann-Katrin Berger, and Gao Hong have reached a level where they have turned into inspiring role models for youngsters to boost the development of the women’s game even further.
“I remember during my active career, Hope Solo was the only one to look up to, but today there are so many great women goalkeepers that youngsters can be inspired by. Today, you even see little boys having the names of women stars on the back of their shirts, and that says a lot about how far we have come," Reyna concluded.