What happened to the goalkeeper jerseys?

There was a golden age for goalkeepers and their uniforms that we can pinpoint between the early 1990s and the early 2000s. The jerseys followed different aesthetic canons that distinguished them from those for movement players, made with colours that moved away from the official colours by pursuing designs, textures and templates that in many cases marked the history of the sport. Impossible to forget the USA 94 kits or those of clubs like Parma, which have remained engraved in our memory. Today, however, the evolution of this role has gone hand in hand with the aesthetics and design of jerseys, and from clubs to national teams the focus on goalkeeper kits has waned.

In all the major leagues, the goalkeeper covers larger and larger portions of the field, he is no longer confined to his own area, proof of this are Ederson and Maignan, who this season have proved to be instrumental in their respective teams' league victory. The former has a stratospheric average pass rate, with a 75% success rate, and as if that were not enough, he also has an assist, thanks to which AC Milan unblocked one of the most complicated matches of this season, against Verona. The second, on the other hand, in the Premier League this year did not pack any assists, unlike last season, but still stood out for his average of 25 passes per game. The goalkeeper has become more and more similar to a movement player, the famous sweeper keeper, and his game uniforms have become uniform to those of his teammates. Goodbye, then, to the over-size formats, to those super-coloured ones that made us dream so much, to leave room for super-technological, breathable, fluorescent or mono-coloured slim-fit models, but above all impersonal.

From PUMA to Nike via New Balance and adidas, all the biggest brands also for the coming season have paid no particular attention to goalkeeper jerseys, producing a single template printed later on the jerseys of the various sponsored clubs. To date, in fact, even in presentations and shootings, attention has been lost for a key role in the game of football, that of the goalkeeper. An atypical choice given the attention paid to merchandising by teams and sponsors, where every year all kinds of products are made with the sole aim of always expanding the audience and reaching even those who have never been particularly familiar with the world of football. Not that the goalkeeper's jersey helps to speed up this process, but considering the stylistic evolution of the football world, one wonders why certain teams do not decide to be more daring with a jersey that historically has always lent itself to being a one-off.

One reason for this lack can be found in the pre-match jerseys, a garment where designers have poured their creativity into proposing those typically 1990s patterns we were used to seeing on the shoulders of the extreme defenders. For several seasons now, in fact, the big clubs in particular have been used to releasing at least two pre-matches per season for each competition, from the league to the European Cups. An item that has become increasingly popular in recent years, taking space away from others.

The other hypothesis as to why goalkeeper shirts are no longer at the centre of every club's strategy is to be found in the market. Despite the fact that goalkeepers play a central role in the game, every year they find themselves out of the best-selling jerseys charts. Any fan or enthusiast of a certain team is more likely to buy the club's historical jersey, the one with the traditional club colours and worn by the team's best players. Yet an attractive design or pattern could help goalkeeper jerseys reach the sales levels of second and third jerseys, which have nothing to do with history and tradition.

2021 was the year of the return to vintage logos, proving that there is a great desire for memories and memories among fans, immediately exploited by kit suppliers, who are always looking for new threads to exploit commercially. Who knows, maybe brands are once again ready to open their archives for another trip back in time, dusting off the iconic goalkeeper jerseys considered a symbol and representation of the aesthetics of an era of football that never ceases to inspire.

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