As you can see, while soccer is a relatively simple, relatively low equipment sport, you still have a lot of options and considerations when it comes time to make a purchase such as new goalie gloves.  Let’s take a look at a few points of consideration in the glove options you will have to decide on.

Palm material.  The palm of a soccer goalie glove is the business end of the glove for the most part, so what the palm is constructed of is probably your area of primary focus.  The back of the gloves matter too, but we’ll look at that in a moment.

Almost all goalie gloves have a palm made of some variation of latex rubber.  The reason for this is that latex has a tacky surface that makes it easier for a goalkeeper to grab a spinning ball out of the air, or redirect it with some control.  However, different manufacturers will all use slightly different fabrications of latex, not to mention the way they construct and sew the gloves together.  You may also need to choose between different thicknesses of palm material.  The thicker you go, the more cushioning you’ll have to take some heat off of those really hard shots.  However, some keepers don’t like the palms to be too thick because they fell the need to maintain a good ‘touch’ on the ball too.

“Finger Save” Gloves.  Let’s talk about the other side of the glove for a moment.  Finger Save gloves are goalie gloves that have plastic spines inserted into pockets along the back of the hand.  The purpose of these spines is twofold.  First, they are designed to give you extra support and protect you fingers from getting bent backwards too far in the event of a very hard shot.  They also help protect you hand and fingers from damage (or possibly even getting broken) if someone were to accidentally step on the back of your hand.  All in all, it’s a pretty clever design and not a bad idea at all.

However, that doesn’t mean they’re a good idea for you.  You see, there are as many opinions about these kinds of features as there are goalkeepers in the world.  Some feel these finger saves are an absolute must have, while others think they’re a good idea, but don’t like the feel of them.  Still others prefer to go the old-school route and avoid the plastic spines all together.

The good news is that you don’t have to struggle too much if you don’t know where you stand because there are some gloves that give you the options to switch the spines around from heavier duty to less stiff, to even removing them completely.  This will allow you to figure out where your comfort zone is.

Really the best thing you can do is to go into a soccer specialty store and try on a number of different gloves from different makers to see which ones feel the best.  If you can have someone at least toss a soccer ball in your direction, that would be a good idea too.

One more thing to consider when you go to buy your new keeper gloves.  Depending on your budget, you might consider having one very good pair of gloves for game situations, and another more durable pair for your everyday training sessions.  Goalie gloves can be expensive, and you don’t want to spend a bunch of money on a great pair and have them torn to shreds because a bunch of knuckleheads want to take shooting practice all day and you have nothing left for the big game!