How do goalkeepers deal with this?: Women are smaller, but the goal is the same size

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Emiliano Martinez was the best goalkeeper at the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar. The height of the Argentinian: 1.95 meters. Mary Earps was the best goalkeeper at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The Englishwoman measures 1.73 meters.

The 22 centimeter difference is about one-eleventh the height of a football goal. There is a certain difference when you have to dive for the balls with your arms stretched between the post and the crossbar.

Nadine Böhi (19), goalkeeper at FC St. Gallen, immediately puts the discussion about the size of her position into perspective: “That doesn’t really matter. You are as tall as you are.” With a height of 1.80 meters, she can say that well. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the average height difference between men and women is 12.7 centimeters. Böhi would therefore be approximately 1 are .93 meters tall compared to men.

Of course, a female goalkeeper doesn’t like to think about the missing centimeters, especially because Böhi is right: height is a fact. You can control the training, but not the growth. Kim Bollmann (23) has just returned from an injury and is currently number 3 in goal for St. Gallen: “You are more often confronted with the problem from the outside. I often heard statements like: ‘Can you even reach the crossbar?'” Bollmann, who has been hired from FC Zürich since the beginning of this year, is 1.77 meters tall.

“Corner game changes”

However, the size issue affects the way female goalkeepers should play and train. Swiss expert and Ghanaian national coach Nora Häuptle said this in an interview with ‘Watson’ after the preliminary round of the World Cup this summer: ‘If you are smaller in the goalkeeping position, the angle game changes, the positional game, standards can change. be defended otherwise.”

What was striking at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand was that there were relatively many long-range shots that went high into the goal. They were rarely sharp shots, but rather well placed shots. This means that the field players also benefit from the size. A goalkeeper must be prepared for that.

Fabienne Oertle (24), regular goalkeeper of FCSG at Böhi, talks about such situations: “Up to a certain point you can of course compensate for this with jumping power. Think of Yann Sommer.” Oertle measures 1.75 meters. Colleague Böhi adds: “If you have a good ball, you often cannot do much, even as a great goalkeeper.”

Her goalkeeper coach Marc Stübi is among the three women. In St. Gallen he not only coaches the AXA Women’s Super League team, but also several young teams of both genders. “Size is becoming increasingly important in the training of goalkeepers.” Just as has been the case for men for a long time: Yann Sommer is the smallest goalkeeper in the top class at 1.83 meters. Would it still be supported today? The problem: When it comes to young children, it is of course difficult to determine how tall someone will actually grow. Stübi laughs: “I admit, sometimes you look at the parents and think: ‘Wow, the child probably won’t grow much anymore.'”

But he is also happy that “in that respect we actually have no problem with our three goalkeepers.” Many of the best goalkeepers in women’s football are a few centimeters tall and therefore 1.80 meters tall, such as the Swede Zećira Mušović, who sealed the USA’s elimination from the World Cup with her (penalty) saves. But the FCSG goalkeepers are close.

In volleyball, the nets for men are 19 centimeters higher than for women, but in basketball the baskets hang at the same height. Would a smaller gate be the solution? It was often discussed and repeatedly rejected. If the conditions are to be right, shouldn’t the playing fields also be made smaller? What does this mean for infrastructure investments?

What about the well-known goalkeeper clichés in women’s football? Oertle immediately says with a laugh: “We all have a bit of roof damage sometimes, right?” Böhi adds: “The saying is understandable. After all, we willingly allow ourselves to be shot.” The position is just as visible in women’s football as it is in men. Oertle: “If you make a mistake as a goalkeeper, it is more noticeable than if a striker misses the goal three times.” It is all the more important that the goalkeeper trio works as a team.

None of the three players have wanted to score for years. For Oertle it was ‘coincidence’. A former goalkeeper saw me at training and said that I actually had everything I needed to score.” Bollmann says succinctly: “None of the boys wanted to score, so I went.” And Böhi: “All the goalkeepers were out, so I just stepped in.”

Rotation at the goalkeeper position

The trio will play at FC St. Gallen this year via a special goalkeeper model: Fabienne Oertle and Nadine Böhi will share the role of regular goalkeeper for the first half of the season. Everyone plays two games in a row and then switches. For example, Oertle stood between the posts last weekend in the cup against FC Zürich, saved the decisive attempt in the penalty shootout and sank a penalty himself. Bollmann is working her way back after her injury and supports the regular duo. Goalkeeper coach Stübi: “We want to give both goalkeepers the opportunity to impose themselves, also for possible national or junior national teams.” In addition, Oertle seriously injured his knee last year and has only been back in action since the start of the season. The sharing model gives her time. In the winter it will be decided definitively who is number 1.

The division of tasks between goalkeepers is mainly known from ice hockey, but such models are still an exception in football. A common argument against this is that the defense must adapt to different goalkeepers. Stübi contradicts this: “Everyone plays with everyone in training anyway.”

The interesting thing about FCSG is that the two regular goalkeepers have different characters. Oertle is lively, quite outgoing, a bundle of energy. Böhi is down to earth, quite introverted, the calming pole. Both give clear, loud instructions to the defensive lines while attending 11-on-11 training. Yet they are different.

Both are aware of this. Perhaps it is precisely these differences in personalities that prevent the development of unhealthy competition. Oertle: “It is rare that you have two goalkeepers who are practically equally good. Only then does such a model make sense. It stands for this flexibility that we live in women’s football and at FCSG.” Böhi thinks: “In the beginning the starting position was special and we wanted to prove ourselves extra in training. It has now become normal for us. If I can play, I I’m happy. And otherwise I support ‘Fäbi’.”

To which goalkeeping coach Stübi immediately adds: “And these statements are typical of our goalkeepers, all three of them. They stand behind each other like a wall.” A wall that is a few centimeters smaller. But a wall.

Axa Super League Women 23/24

		team	SP	T.D	PT
	1	FC Zurich	8th	15	19
	2	Napkin FC Chenois	8th	13	18
	3	FC Basel	8th	14	17
	4	BSC Young Boys	8th	9	13
	5	FC St. Gallen 1879	8th	6	13
	6	Grasshopper Zurich	8th	1	10
	7	FC Lucerne	8th	-8th	9
	8th	FC Rapperswil-Jona	8th	-15	4
	9	Women’s team Thun Bernese Oberland	8th	-18	4
	10	FC Aarau	8th	-17	2

Source : Blick

Emma

I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.