Training the goalkeeper in football
What a goalkeeper actually goes through in a match and how to prepare him: explosiveness, footwork, distribution — even without a goalkeeping coach at the club.
Thibaud C. · Fitness coach · Last updated: September 26, 2026
The goalkeeper is the only player who plays a completely different match from everyone else. Yet far too often he's left shooting at goal in his corner while the rest of the squad trains. Preparing him seriously can change a lot of results over a season.
A physically different match
Tracking data confirms it: a top-level goalkeeper covers around five kilometres in a match, half as much as an outfield player. And above all, the nature of the effort is nothing alike. More than two thirds of his distance is walking or light jogging, and his sprinting distance amounts to barely a few metres, where a winger racks up several hundred. So a goalkeeper doesn't prepare for running endurance: he prepares to repeat very short, very explosive efforts — diving, getting back up, coming out for a second ball — in the middle of long waiting phases.
The paradox of the position. He's the player who runs the least but has to be the most explosive at the right moment. A decisive action can arrive after twenty minutes without a single intense effort. His preparation therefore targets the quality of the explosive action "from cold", not the volume.
The demands of the position
Watch a goalkeeper over a full match: he touches few balls, but every intervention carries weight. His main demands fall into five families.
- Handling: catching cleanly, making the ball safe, not spilling it. The basics, but the ones that win or lose points.
- Coming for crosses and going down at feet: coming for a cross, diving at the feet of a striker running through, choosing between catching, parrying and waiting.
- Positioning and narrowing the angle: getting on his line of the shot, reducing the target, stepping out at the right moment to close the space.
- Distribution: receiving under pressure, playing out cleanly, taking part in the build-up from the back.
- Reactions and spring: reacting fast at close range, getting across for a shot on target, getting back up for a second ball.
How to train them
Each family can be worked on with simple stations, without sophisticated equipment.
- Handling: sets of shots at varied heights (along the ground, waist high, aerial), insisting on hand position and securing the ball against the body.
- Coming for crosses: repeated crosses from wide, with one or two attackers challenging for it. You train the decision (come or stay) as much as the action itself.
- Narrowing the angle: a striker runs at the goalkeeper from different angles; the keeper practises reducing the space at the right moment rather than diving too early.
- Distribution: short passes under light pressure, then long balls into target zones. You can build it straight into the team's build-up work.
- Reactions: close-range shots in quick succession, balls returned immediately, small steps before the save to train short explosiveness.
The modern goalkeeper: one more player in the build-up
This is the big change in the position in recent years. The goalkeeper is no longer just a last line of defence: he has become the first player in the build-up, an extra outfield player when the team has the ball. He's asked to receive under pressure, stay calm with his back to his own goal, and choose between the short pass to build and the long ball to switch the play. Many modern systems rely on him to create a numerical advantage when playing out. That ability with his feet doesn't replace making saves, but it has become a demand in its own right — and it's trained like the others.
A goalkeeper who plays cleanly with his feet can transform the whole team's build-up. Have him take part in build-up exercises with your defenders rather than treating him as a player apart — that's often where he improves fastest.
A frequent mistake
Goalkeeper training too often gets reduced to "firing shots at him". That's useful, but very partial: it works neither coming for crosses, nor positioning, nor distribution, which weigh at least as much in an amateur match. Vary the situations and put him through scenarios close to the weekend.
Picking goalkeeper drills. Our exercise library offers situations dedicated to the position (handling, coming for crosses, reactions, distribution). Browse it in Exercises and filter by goalkeeper to build your stations.