The knockout round of the Women’s Euro 2022 has kicked off. As the best teams in women’s football go head-to-head, it gives this side of the beautiful game some well-deserved limelight. The calibre of football has been truly elite at the tournament, showcasing everything the game has to offer. Along with the increased publicity brings critics, many of whom compare the women’s game negatively to the men’s instead of seeing it for its own style and flair. There are innate differences between the two genders which have effects on the positions, most notably for goalkeepers.
This analysis aims not to compare women’s and men’s goalkeeping but to instead celebrate the difference. Using statistics and major trends from the group stage, this data analysis provides insight into the new style of goalkeeping on full display at the Euro 2022.
Height
Perhaps the most obvious physical difference between female and male goalkeepers is height. When looking at the data for shot-stoppers in the women’s game, the average height is 173.5 cm which is 5 8”, far below the average in the men’s game. There is only a 12cm difference in height between the smallest goalkeeper and tallest at the Euros, showing that this is something every goalkeeper in the game is evolving to play with, especially as the goals are the same size as the men’s game.
There have been debates on whether the goal size should be modified for the women’s game with the biological difference between the groups of players. On the flip side, if the goals were to be changed, this may reduce the number of teams accommodating their female teams as they must change the goals for this specific purpose. This is not something that goalkeepers are waiting to happen and have taken the challenge head-on.
To combat the reduction in height, the goalkeepers are focusing the training on agility and speed between the sticks. As ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis explained, “What you want to see in any goalkeeper is them moving their feet quickly, looking agile, then they can make excellent, technical saves”.
