must read
Debate: Will The Removal Of Goalkeepers From Under 7s Football Really Be 'Catastrophic?'
New FA Rules are expunging keepers in favour of technical growth in the first stage of organised youth football.
Goalkeeping, like life, is not always a linear pathway. It is such a highly specialised position with a skillset that requires a commitment to isolation in mindset and presence. Some are born to be in nets. Others find out by chance that the different coloured jersey was meant for them.
“Amazing to see how much the goalkeeper union has grown over the last few years, record numbers across academies, grassroots and youth pathways are choosing to be goalkeepers in all corners of the globe. Goalkeeping is cool,” Mary Earps posted on her socials last year. She’s right, but when should a budding goalkeeper first enter the ’cool’ box?
The jury remains somewhat out on that, after the Football Association recently announced that goalkeepers would be removed from the earliest stage of organised football next summer.
From the beginning of the 2026-27 season, children in the under-7 bracket will adopt a new three-a-side format with smaller pitches and no goalie. All six players are 'active, engaged, outfield players’ where each child has the opportunity to ‘grow their skills and join the attack and defence.’
According to the FA, the plan is to give everyone more touches of the ball. But it is a decision that has caused some waves in goalkeeping circles.
“If a child naturally gravitates toward being a goalkeeper, it’s worth asking why we would take that opportunity away from them,” suggests Rangers’ current Head of Academy Goalkeeping Conor Brennan.
“The intention behind rotating positions is understandable, giving players more touches and broader experiences. However, in doing so, we risk losing valuable time in developing the unique psychological attributes required for goalkeeping”, Brennan insists.
There is an argument that rotation prevents early typecasting. Youngsters can explore different positions before finding their niche. There are numerous anecdotal stories of an outfielder becoming the accidental goalkeeper in their teens.
One of the true greats, Lev Yashin, once said: 'I wanted to be a forward – I was always dreaming about hitting goals – but gradually I got moved back and back until I became a goalkeeper.' Not a bad career move for a Ballon d’Or winner.
A year that was technically lost in development can be alternatively framed as 12 months spent in understanding the game from a different perspective
“To assume that you can only build a goalkeeper from seven, or influence a goalkeeper from that age is pretty wild,” claims Dan Tumelty-Bevan, Head of Academy Goalkeeping at Birmingham.
“To get seven-year-olds into environments where there’s more capacity to enhance skill movement and development is a positive. I think refining that as you go through the ages will give more opportunity for athletes to be goalkeepers.”
Gianluigi Donnarumma began in ‘the gate’ at the age of five, playing around with his elder brother and uncle. 'I was never afraid. Maybe that's why I chose goalkeeping,' he has mused.
That's exactly the point that Brennan makes. Being thrown in at the deep end is the way to learn the lone eagle of the game.
“Building bravery (such as the willingness to put their body in the way of the ball), experiencing the emotional highs of saving a penalty, and learning to handle the inevitable highs and lows all come with being the last line of defence.”
“These experiences are not dependent on formal coaching; they are developed organically through repetition and exposure. By delaying this process, we may unintentionally hinder the development of these crucial traits.”
We are always told that children are resilient. So why not test the theory at the earliest opportunity to make a head start on the rest? Pitching youngsters into the hero and villain goalkeeping cycle is something that can appeal to a certain DNA. Dean Henderson recently told Goalkeeper.com that he loved “breaking hearts” from the very beginning. There must be something in that.
The fear expressed out loud by coaches is that youngsters who are predisposed to the art of goalkeeping might be lost to other sports.
Idrees Afzal, PhD, is a human performance scientist, analyst, and conditioning coach who has worked at Bradford City, within county cricket circles, and alongside national badminton Federations. He is certain that there is a bigger positive to multi-skilling across disciplines from a skill acquisition angle.
“Could it help support certain coordination patterns and movement patterns because players haven't got gloves on at a young age and they start learning new things? That's one take on it”, he says.
“The other take is simply how representative will this change be in terms of what a goalkeeper will need to do”?
Afzal also touches on the holistic element of goalkeeping development. “Is having the gloves on a haptic - a perception relating to a sense of touch? Do young players need to feel what it's like to actually be in goal during a game? Will there be that same perception and action of things that are going on in the scenario as opposed to not having goalkeepers in U7s? Those would be the two big elements that stand out for me.
“It could potentially help with a goalkeeper’s ‘possession skills’. But if that's going to be the case, then it needs to be facilitated by either a coach or a referee in a certain way to allow those adaptive behaviors to take place. If it's just going to be a goalkeeper with no gloves standing near the net, it might defeat the whole purpose.”
Afzal speaks a lot about ecological dynamics in relation to the question at hand. The theory emphasises that movement and decision-making emerge from the continuous, dynamic interaction between the individual, the environment, and the task.
“Gaining a variety of physical components in terms of your strength, power, and mobility, is going to be really good for a young person. Having exposure at a young age to different aspects of perception and motor learning with the likes of a golf or tennis ball, for instance, is important.”
Brennan isn’t so sure. “Other sports, such as hockey, GAA, futsal, and handball, offer young players the opportunity to specialise as goalkeepers from an earlier age. If a child has a strong desire to play in that role, but feels restricted within football, it is reasonable to question whether they may be drawn toward alternative sports where that identity is encouraged.”
On the other hand, Yashin tried the high jump, shot put, discus, took fencing lessons, had a go at boxing, diving, wrestling, skating, basketball, ice hockey and water polo. He didn't even want to be a footballer at one point.
There is also simply the question of: does this actually matter, for one year of a child’s football career?
Afzal believes so.
“It's 12 months. That's a lot of time for the development of a young person's mind. I think it all matters. Any exposure, any experience that young athletes are having is really important”, he opines.
In these days of competitive parenting and results matter narratives, it would be easy to make the young goalkeeper feel the weight of that responsibility rather than enjoy it. The 3 v 3 structure is key in imparting technical learning when the young mind is open. There are no official results or tables, ensuring a sense of freedom in a fun environment.
Afzal has an interesting thesis on what the authorities are really driving at. “It might be a philosophical mindset. Maybe the FA wants our players to be technically good on the ball. Is that going to develop in a young player’s game if they’ve just got gloves on their hands and they’re just stationary, or just stuck to being in the nets?”
Of course, this all could backfire. Children are sure to be watching a magical save during the World Cup and think: “I want to be (insert famous goalkeeper name here) right now.” Is the moment being stolen?
The new format is about individual actions and not positions.
Tumelty-Bevan insists that the broader view wins the day: “People can be so focused on this idea that everything has to look like a mini version of where it’s going to. It doesn't.”
The next generation will tell us something about both sides of this story. Goalkeeping is cool. Maybe hothousing can wait.