If you’re just starting out in the goalkeeping world or you play as a goalkeeper once a week on a Sunday you probably don’t think that it’s worth it to splurge 150 dollars on goalkeeper gloves. That’s maybe debatable in a technical sense. What I mean by that is, if you buy better gloves you may be adding to your save total in your Sunday league matchup. To be fair though there are no guarantees, and I completely understand not wanting to spend a ton of money on goalkeeper gloves. Plus, if you play on very rough fields you’re likely to get really upset when those 150 dollar gloves rip apart. That’s why I want to talk about the best goalkeeper gloves for amateur goalies.
Even if you’re an amateur that has hopes of making it to the next level these gloves could serve you as well. If you’re training every single day the wear and tear on your gloves is going to be significant. So there’s a good chance that you won’t want to splurge 200 dollars every three months. The gloves that I am going to list here then will help the amateur goalie that plays once a week. At the same time they can be a good fit for the more serious amateur that wants a lower priced glove that they can use for training. Low price by the way is not going to be the only requirement that a glove needs to meet to be able to make the list.
What Do The Best Goalkeeper Gloves For Amateur Goalies Need To Have?
There are a couple of things that you want to look for in the best goalkeeper gloves for amateur goalies besides the low price tag. The reason why I even put the low price tag requirement on here is because I feel that’s what’s holding a lot of people back. Also, you can find decent quality gloves in the lower price tiers. They can provide ok grip and in many occasions much better protection than some of the more expensive gloves that you can find out there. For example, a lot of the expensive modern cut gloves from Adidas and Nike are not gloves that I would recommend for Amateur goalkeepers. They don’t provide enough protection in my book to be able to serve the needs of amateurs.
As an amateur or just someone who is up and coming in the position it’s ok if you don’t have the perfect technique down. What you do need though are gloves that provide a higher level of protection particularly against hard shots. That way you won’t be dealing with injuries as frequent if any at all. I’ll let you in on a little secret as well. Using modern gloves that don’t provide enough protection can come back to bite professionals as well. I’ve talked a bit on this site about my right pinky that’s broken into, I don’t even know how many places anymore. You need gloves that protect you, give you enough grip, and ideally won’t be overly expensive. Here are some of the options that I like which match that criteria.
PUMA ONE Grip 1 IC
You could certainly argue that the protection level is just not there with these gloves. At least not compared to some of the other gloves that I’m going to talk about. You can get these gloves for about 15 dollars though. So you are sacrificing some of the protection for that extremely low price! Maybe this glove is more for the amateur goalkeeper who is training on a daily basis or close to it. You want to use these gloves as your training gloves and then have other gloves that offer a bit more in the grip department for games. When it comes to grip though these gloves are not that bad. You’ll be dealing with a rather soft palm that you can get pretty sticky with some glove glu.
If you’re moving up from kid gloves to this it can be a good stepping stone glove as well. Particularly if you’re someone who used kid gloves that were not made from the latex that you’ll find on the palms of virtually every single adult sized goalkeeper glove out there. Durability may not be the strong suit that this glove brings to the table. You have to take into account though that it costs about half of what you’ll have to pay for most of the others that I’m going to talk about. With that in mind I do feel that these gloves are perfect for amateurs that are looking for a training glove that they won’t feel guilty about when it rips.
Select 90 Flexi Pro Goalkeeper Glove
Another glove that I have to admit could fall a little short in the protection department. This is one of those gloves though that you could use for games as well as practice, and you’d be ok. With the amount of latex that the glove has you’re going to get some serious grip. Like I said, what worries me a bit is the fact that the glove is not overly thick. This may be one of those gloves that’s going to allow you to feel the burn when you try and make a save on a hard shot. Especially if you’re someone who has thinner hands. If you have thinner hands then you may pick one of the last three gloves that I’m going to talk about.
Just like the Puma glove I kind of killed my own pick here. I feel though that these can be great gloves again for the more advanced amateur goalkeeper. I want to make sure that I make that distinction. There are many levels of amateur goalkeepers. If you’re someone who plays their games with a modern Adidas glove or any of the thinner gloves from the other brands then you’re going to be just fine with this Select option as your practice. You’re getting a similar feeling and even grip as you would with some of the other high-end gloves. Yet you don’t have to pay a high price for gloves that may be all gone in a space of three months. These can also be a great option for the Sunday league goalkeeper who plays once a week.
Renegade GK Talon Goalie Gloves
These Renegade gloves are really one of the best middle of the pack options out there. For amateur goalkeepers they can serve as practice gloves, or game gloves. They can also be used by the Sunday leaguers that only play one day a week. This is essentially a glove that meets all of the requirements that I previously set out when thinking about what the best goalkeeper gloves for amateur goalies should have. They are a glove that provides protection with their built-in finger spine technology. In fact, the brand promises that your fingers will never bend back. I’m not too sure that’s ideal, but I’ll talk about that a little later. It’s a thick enough glove to wear you’re really not going to be feeling a lot of the burn from hard shots.
Grip is right up there with the best of them. Don’t expect the glove to be overly sticky. What you’re going to get though is a glove that can remain within its starting grip level for a while. Especially if you’re active about caring for the glove and making sure that you keep them wet when playing. What’s the catch with these gloves? I said, I don’t love the finger spine design completely. Also, this is a much more expensive glove than the others that I’ve put on the list so far. They go for around 45 dollars. That’s still very middle of the pack to low tier in the grand scheme of things. It’s a fair price in my book really.
Rinat Egotiko Stellar Spines
I recently reviewed these gloves and there was a lot to like about them. They are very similar to the renegade gloves design wise. The main difference that you’ll probably notice is that the finger spines on the Renegade gloves tend to be a bit more rigid. This is something that Rinat has worked on for a while. Making sure that they provide protection for goalkeepers without limiting a lot of their movements. I’ve said a couple of times on this site that old school gloves with finger spines are the reason I don’t wear gloves with finger protection. It’s a bit of a shame really. I may have been able to keep a functional right pinky if I wore these gloves through my career.
In any case, protection is good with these gloves and the Rinat grip is really good when new. I would say that it’s similar to the Renegade gloves again in that department. What I worry about with Rinat gloves is without a doubt the durability factor. Especially if you’re going to be taking these gloves to tough, turf fields. Rinat gloves are not known for being extremely durable. If you want to get the most out of them though make sure that your gloves are always wet when you train or play. Then get home and wash them. In all seriousness these are tips that can apply to any gloves. At least the ones on this list for sure.
Storelli Gladiator Challenger 3.0 Goalkeeper Gloves
There are two things that I want to highlight about this Storelli option that may make them the best of the bunch. Number one you can find these gloves in virtually any size that you want. That’s true about the Renegades and Rinats as well. This leads me though to my next fact. I want to highlight that these Storelli gloves are cheaper than those 2. At least right when I was able to check the price tag to write this down! Also, there’s an argument to be made that these gloves can feature superior grip to the other two options. I’m a bit on the fence when it comes to outright saying they do in fact offer better grip. I wouldn’t argue though, with people who think that.
You can get the protection that you need to serve as the best goalkeeper gloves for amateur goalies. Like I’ve been trying to do this article you’ll be able to do just that without having to spend too much money on this pair of gloves. I like the glove cut on these. I feel the latex wraps around better in the thumb area with these gloves than with the last two options that I talked about. Ultimately pick your poison, any of the options that I’ve thrown out here are gloves that I can get behind.
Best Goalkeeper Gloves For Amateur Goalies – Conclusion
Can you find better options at higher price points than the gloves that I’m recommending? There’s no question about that! That’s not to say that all of the gloves that cost more than any of the ones that I’m throwing out here are options that are automatically going to be better. That’s why I made a point to talk about what I would be looking for in the best goalkeeper gloves for Amateur goalies. At the same time, these are purposely low priced like I said. What you want to do as an amateur or even as a pro is have a glove that serves you well without having to break the bank for it. These are 5 excellent options! If you like any of them, be sure to click the link in the title of each glove section to help me continue creating great content!
