There’s a whole article on this site about pants or shorts as a goalkeeper. What you should be wearing. I go into a bit of detail there about what type of goalkeeper shorts you can or should wear. In a sense though that particular article kind of leans towards having goalkeepers wear pants. If you do want to wear goalkeeper shorts though, what should you be wearing? Most folks that get into this goalkeeping world pretty quickly figure out that there are certain shorts that are made specially for goalkeepers. Different brands will try to put their own spin on these types of shorts. At the end of the day we’re most likely looking at a similar design. All it is shorts with extra padding on the side.
As I just mentioned, different brands are going to try and bring their own interpretation to goalkeeper shorts. I may go into a couple of examples in the article. At the end of the day you should probably go out and buy what feels more comfortable for you. There are a couple of things though, that I feel should be discussed. Number one is the fact that most goalkeepers in the pros just wear regular shorts when they’re at a game. The typical black goalkeeper shorts with padding are not something that we see on TV that often. There are a couple of reasons for that, that I want to get into. At the same time, if you do want to buy goalkeeper shorts, what areas do you need to protect? Here we go!
What Areas Should Goalkeeper Shorts Protect?
Again, most goalkeeper shorts that you’re going to find out there are going to feature padding that runs from your waist area all the way down to almost your knees. The question here is, is this good protection for goalkeepers? Better yet another question could be, is this enough protection for goalkeepers? Oddly enough the thigh area that gets most of the protection with these types of shorts is actually a part of the body that can hold up better when diving. Very rarely are you going to get up after diving and say, “my thighs hurt”. There are specific instances like when you dive and a rock or something hits you in the thigh area that can hurt.
I would say though that ideally you want to protect more sensitive parts of your body than your thighs. The pelvis area for example is one that can see more damage. Particularly because when you’re falling backward which is when you can hurt this area you don’t have as much control of your body as you would typically have diving to the side. For me the areas that you really want to protect are that pelvic area, and the hip area.
The hip area is a rather tricky one to get protection on with goalkeeper shorts or pants or whatever it is that you want to wear. Particularly because people tend to wear bottoms below the waist. This waste area could be a part of your body that you’re going to want to protect with one of those padded undershirts rather than with shorts or pants. There’s no reason to sugarcoat things and this point anymore. I feel that traditional goalkeeper shorts really don’t provide a ton of protection. What can you do then?
I Want To Wear Shorts, But I’m Looking For Extra Protection
This is actually a real problem that goalkeepers have. Particularly if you play in a really hot climate. It’s hard to go out there with pants and a ton of gear on. Particularly because most goalkeeper gear is black. It can get hot really quickly with all of that gear on. Therefore, this feeling that you want to wear shorts because it’s hot or because you feel pants limit your movement is completely understandable. There are a couple of things that you can do if you want to get extra protection and still wear shorts. The most common option is to wear padded underwear.
What some goalkeeper specific brands have started doing instead of selling the typical goalkeeper shorts is selling padded underwear. Basically, these are your typical tight fitting boxer briefs, and really the difference is that goalkeeper brands started adding padding to those boxer briefs. You pretty much get the same level of protection that you would get from the typical goalkeeper shorts. All that you have to do is wear regular shorts on top of those boxer briefs. For ladies I think wearing this type of underwear while in goal could also be beneficial.
Traditionally, the way that goalkeepers also got protection on the knee area while wearing shorts was to wear knee high socks. This look has fallen out of favor with modern goalkeepers. At least from what I see locally here, and obviously from what I see on TV. As I’ve said other times on the site, full goalkeeper leggings seem to be the trend. If you’re keen on wearing goalkeeper shorts though you can still pull off the knee-high socks look. I’m going to be honest, I still use it. Yeah it looks old school, and I kind of like that.
Why Have Pro Goalkeepers Pretty Much Stopped Wearing Traditional Goalkeeper Shorts?
If you look through different games across the world on the weekend you’ll see that most goalkeepers wear regular shorts these days. It seems like the padded goalkeeper shorts are all but gone. At least from the pro game. There are a couple of reasons for this. Number one, most of the teams that you’re going to find playing on TV have some type of commercial commitment with the uniform manufacturer. Therefore, the goalkeeper ultimately has to wear team shorts most of the time. If you skim through lower tier leagues you can actually find more goalkeepers still wearing the traditional black goalkeeper shorts.
Other than the commercial aspect of things it’s also pretty evident that the typical padding just doesn’t provide much in the form of protection. You also have to take into account that the game that you’re probably watching is being played on a soft grass field. I would say that since fields have gotten way better in the last 20 years goalkeepers don’t really feel the need to add a layer of protection to the side of their shorts. If you’ve ever seen match footage of the early premiere league days in the 90’s you know what fields used to look like. Today even lower tier clubs play on a decent pitch.
Why The Underwear That You Wear Is Important
Even if you’re not going to be wearing protective underwear or anything like that you really want to make sure that you’re at least wearing some tight boxer briefs. This is something that I would actually recommend for guys and girls. Italians love their regular speedo type underwear so much that they don’t even care, and we’ve gotten a chance to see underwear from some of these players in the past. Even Gigi Buffon wears this type of underwear under his shorts. I wouldn’t recommend it. Shorts tend to curl up when you make certain movements. There could be plays that the only thing that is protecting your thigh area is your underwear.
If you’ve never had a scratch or some type of rash in these parts trust me you don’t want to deal with something like this. I’ve talked about this in another article on the site. There are scratches and bruises that are going to be part of the nature of goalkeeping. You pretty much just have to learn to deal with them. Over time I would make the argument that you more or less do learn to live with a little pain here and there. However, when you start feeling discomfort in unfamiliar areas it’s hard to shake that type of pain.
Those unfamiliar areas are that thigh area that I was just mentioning and anything closer to your private areas are probably parts that you’re going to want to make sure stay protected. Take into account that shorts have a tendency to slide up on certain plays. Decent underwear can save you from potentially uncomfortable situations.
What’s The Best Brand To Buy Goalkeeper Shorts From?
This is actually a tough question to answer, but these are not that hard to buy. What I mean by that is you can typically bargain hunt with shorts and you’re going to be ok. In fact, if you wear a padded underwear option you could just wear regular shorts. A better question might be, is it worth it to go out and buy special goalkeeper shorts these days. The answer could potentially be no. Especially with brands like Adidas for example. They do carry goalkeeper shorts. Yet, they aren’t as easy to find in all countries. When you do find them you’re most likely going to realize that you’re going to have to pay a lot more for those shorts than you would for regular shorts!
Elite, Storelli, and Reusch are just some of the brands that I know for a fact have goalkeeper sliders that you can wear. Actually trying to find the traditional padded shorts is much harder in certain parts of the world. In Latin America and Mexico you’ll find Rinat gear for example. To be fair this isn’t the highest quality fabric. You can buy goalkeeper shorts at great prices. Also, they are one of the few brands that I know for a fact still sells the traditional padded goalkeeper shorts. Rinat, also has US shipping. As you can probably tell I’m just throwing a few brands out there without necessarily endorsing any of them. The fact is your performance shouldn’t be overly impacted by the shorts that you wear. Therefore, going a full rant like I do with gloves is a bit unnecessary.
Just Wearing Regular Shorts
This is an option that I essentially already put on the table. Pro goalkeepers and amateurs alike are going for this option. I do feel that it’s a good idea to wear those protective sliders if you’re going to wear regular shorts. Potentially though what you could be doing is just buying a couple of pairs of sliders and spending more of your budget on shorts. In that situation you will be able to mix and match different shirt colors with your jerseys and your outfits. This is actually something that I love to do.
The other option that you’re going to have is to wear shorts and leggings. I actually prefer this option over just the regular shorts. Particularly when you’re playing on rough fields. If you want to wear shorts, but you want to have extra protection you can wear leggings. What you can do if you don’t want to wear full leggings is to cut them under the knee area. That way you’ll get the full knee protection without walking around in long tights!
Goalkeeper Shorts Conclusion
Even if you tried it seems like the traditional black goalkeeper shorts are on their way out. As I mentioned there are a couple of brands that still make them. What most goalkeeper clothes brands have done is just move towards padded sliders. So what you’re going to be able to do is wear any type of shorts that you could have laying around. While still getting some of that extra protection. To be fair, don’t expect all that much from the protection that the products provide.
I’ve always been a goalkeeper that prefers long pants. Particular for training just because of the level of protection that you can get from pants compared to shorts. I would urge goalkeepers though to be really smart about when and where they bust out the shorts. There are certain fields where going without a ton of protection could be something that you regret sooner rather than later. Particular on turf fields, and if you’re playing on a dirt field also. Just be smart with your choices and your purchase. So that you can ultimately pick and choose what suits you best!
