Football has become a more demanding sport in recent years, and the demands placed on goalkeepers are no exception. Nowadays, goalkeepers are expected to do more than just save shots: they are regularly called upon to “sweep up” outside their penalty area and they play an important role in their teams’ attacking build-up play, thereby allowing central defenders to move further forwards.

As neatly summed up in the Technical Report published by FIFA after the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™, which hailed “the competition’s best generation of goalkeepers ever”, “teams are no longer classifying the keeper as a mere shot-stopper, but rather are actively involving them when building from the back.”

To help goalkeepers around the world achieve what they are aiming for and stay healthy and injury‑free, FIFA is proud to present a warm-up programme for adolescent goalkeepers of all levels. This programme has been created in collaboration with the FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence Rehasport Clinic in Poznań, Poland.

According to Rehasport Clinic head of sports science, Monika Grygorowicz, “goalkeepers are different from outfield players and therefore need a tailored warm‑up programme.”

Pascal Zuberbühler, Goalkeeping Specialist at FIFA adds “the demands on goalkeepers have increased in recent years. For them to be able to perform, it is more important than ever before to stay healthy and injury-free.”

Not all injuries can be avoided. However, by performing an adequate warm-up before each training session and match, it is possible to minimise them. As the goalkeeper’s role is different from that of an outfield player, goalies need a tailored warm-up programme to prepare them for the specific demands that they face. The programme presented here gives some new ideas on what a warm-up for adolescent goalkeepers around the world could look like, with absolutely minimal equipment needed.

The warm-up is divided into three parts: cardiopulmonary; progressive mobility, activation and stability; and technical and tactical. Quality trumps quantity when performing the exercises. Click here to see all exercises.

Thank you to the two goalkeepers, Fiona Flühler and Marcel Zapytowski, for their time and effort during the two days of filming.

To learn more about injury prevention go to the FIFA Diploma in Football Medicine.