Whether it’s a matter of style, comfort, or simple masochism, seeing futsal goalkeepers without gloves is intriguing. Especially given the point-blank shots they receive. While a parallel can be made with handball, goalkeepers can, within the rules, wear gloves, or even mittens. But why do they deprive themselves of them?
“There are goalkeepers who have gloves, others who have mittens,” explains Francis Lokoka.goalkeeper for the French team and the Sporting Club de Paris. I think that, for practice, it’s better to play without it, because the ball is smaller. It also allows us to have a better grip on the ball and to be able to restart more quickly, with more precision.
No gloves for more precise throws
But the use of gloves depends mainly on the game, and futsal requires a fast and precise game. The goalkeeper touches a lot of balls with his feet, and the restarts, on a small field and with little space, must be as precise as possible, which is more difficult with gloves.
The same is true for handball, where the balls caught, called “pastis”, are rarer. In its rule 4 on the wearing of gloves by the goalkeeper, the French Handball Federation specifies that « and the one (the goalkeeper) wears gloves with a palm made of a material covered with pimples (like the non-smooth side of a table tennis bat) it must be considered that contact with an opponent’s skin may be dangerous: (application of rule 4:9). »
To support the wrists and fingers that suffer with each strike, the futsal goalkeeper’s obligatory accessory is the strap. The elasto strip helps to strengthen the wrist and reassures the goalkeepers. For the fingers, the use depends on the habits and the goalkeepers.
But some futsal goalkeepers, often from 11-a-side football, use gloves, out of reflex and habit. The ball may seem hard when first used. Although it is smaller than a classic football (size 4 versus size 5), it is much heavier, to facilitate control, but therefore harder to stop.
The goalkeepers’ essentials, and their first protection, remain elbow and knee pads. Without them, it is difficult to throw yourself to the ground on a hard parquet floor that burns the skin.
