Question Number: 23749

Law 3 - Number of Players 8/8/2010

RE: D1 Under 15

Luke of Sacramento, CA USA asks...

At a tournament this weekend, a team down by one point removed their keeper with a couple of minutes left in the game and put in a field player. The substitute's uniform was the same as all of the other field players, so there was nothing visually indicating she (or anyone else)was a keeper. I understand the logic of this move, but I thought every team had to have a keeper. Shouldn't the ref have made at least one player on the losing team wear a funny colored shirt, just in case somebody used their hands in the penalty area? BTW, it back fired and the other team scored on an empty net. Thanks.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Luke
Yes there must be one player designated as a goalkeeper and must wear a jersey that distinguishes him/her from the rest of the team. A team must have a goalkeeper. There is however nothing to prevent the GK playing outfield and leaving the goals and penalty area.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

One of the player's must be a keeper and must wear a distinctive jersey. The keeper may be used as an attacking player, leaving her goal undefended. But, the referee should have insisted that the substitute for the keeper wear a distinct jersey.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The referee should not have allowed this to happen. One player HAS to be designated as the goalkeeper and identified by his funny colored shirt. There are no restrictions as to where on the field he may play but he must at least be ON the field

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Having 11 field players is fine, as long as one of them is clearly identified (wearing a pinney, or the keeper shirt). Where the players, even the keeper, stand or play on the field is irrelevant.

The referee should not have allowed the substitute for the keeper to enter the field improperly dressed for the position, or upon figuring out that they took OUT the only properly attired keeper, had it fixed immediately before continuing with the game.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

You said this was a tournament. I suspect the losing side wanted to get the game restarted as quickly as possible, since many tournaments do not allow the referee to add on time to compensate for lost time. So their reasoning was not to take the time to get the jersey from the old keeper and put it on the new keeper.

Unfortunately that is not allowed. Law 3 says that one of the players must be a goalkeeper (although it doesn't define how that goalkeeper must act - the keeper doesn't have to stay near the goal). And Law 4 says that the goalkeeper must have unique colors to distinguish him from the teams.

If the team wanted to make the switch quickly, they would need to have the substitute dressed in unique colors before the substitution was requested. That could be done with a second goalkeeper jersey or with a pinney.