If you are slightly of the older generation, a bit like me, then you remember a time when all goal kicks and goalkeepers' interactions with the ball felt almost identical. The main goal of a keeper is to launch the ball as far as possible from his own goal and the closest possible to the opposition's goal. That action basically meant that he'd be protecting his own goal by keeping the danger away and making his teammates' jobs easier. After all, it was the simplest way to do a needed task.
A goalkeeper was basically a hand and a foot. A hand to put the ball in the air and a foot to launch it.
In those days, that simple task was what got many keepers complements for. Nowadays, it's different. Goalkeepers are commended for being able to keep the ball as long as possible, absorbing pressure, and finally give and accurate short pass, especially if it was short pass that went directly on the grass. Between this and that is an entire story, but a story that no one knows where it began and where exactly it ends.
If you're of my age or older then you possibly remember simpler times, where the ball was launched and you could see all players' skills in action, the attackers were able to showcase their skills either by explosive running, dribbling, or finishing, the midfielders had a bit of those three plus passing, and defenders where showing strength. It was simpler, and I am not ashamed to say that I do miss it often. It was a simpler time, the goalkeeper saved shots, the defenders defended, the midfield connected, and the attackers scored.
Pep Guardiola: The Source of Evil
You might relate all this new complicated world to Pep Guardiola, you might see him as the son of a bitch who started this whole mess. However, and as a person who considers Pep to be the greatest coach in the world if not history, let me tell you that this is simply one of the things that Pep took much more credit than he deserved for it. This doesn't mean that he didn't contribute to it, but it does mean that his contribution was smaller than people thought, no matter how big they might have been.
This is similar to the internet and social. The reason it is credited to Pep, however, goes to the fact that he is more marketable than others. Marketability is the keyword in this context because some analysts and historians credit the goalkeepers evolution to a certain squad, a certain coach, and a certain keeper, the problem with those is that despite many credits that team to be among the best in history, they're not very marketable.
Of course here I am speaking of the Golden Team, the National Hungary football team coached by Gusztáv Sebes. This team was nicknamed the Golden Team due to it winning Olympic Games, Helsinki, in 1952. They also won the silver in the 1952 World Cup in Switzerland. Also, it is nicknamed as such because between 1950 and 1956, the international team played 50 games and won 42 of them and lost one, that one is, of course, the 1952 World Cup in Switzerland against West Germany.
That's right, the Golden Team spent 6 years undefeated but in one game, and scored at least once in 73 consecutive games and achieved the highest points tally in FIFA's ELO Ranking before it was changed in 2014 with 2230 points. Many respectable sites and news organisations considered it the greatest team ever, including the BBC. By the way, the second-best team ever in the Elo Ranking is Germany with 2223.
What that last sentence means is that Hungary's Golden Team is rated higher than a team who's made it to the final in 2002, got third place in 2006, third place in 2010, and first place in 2014.
Anyway, this Golden Team liked to initiate playing, attack, and goes forward with all its lines. It played formations like 4-2-4, 3-2-3-2, or 3-2-5 when in possession, it varied according to sources and we also need to remember that those were also 6 years, so a lot happened.
The Entire Journey
With such a team, goalkeeper Gyula Grosics figured that he needs to develop his role in the team, thus he began to keep a tight space behind his defenders to close the gap, hence the term "Sweeper Keeper". He also came out during corners and long balls in the pentaly box. He also figured something important which seems a bit too obvious nowadays, which is launching the ball with the hand is more accurate than kicking it. It is wildly believed that Lev Yashin was inspired by Grosics.
Who liked this idea? Rinus Michels, the legendary coach of the Netherlands' during the 1970s, and the godfather of Johan Cruyff on the pitch and off it. And 22 years after the 1952 World Cup, Rinus Michels was picking the goalkeeper for the Netherlands for the 1974 World Cup in West Germany Jan Jongbloed over the legendary keeper Jan van Beveren for the same reason.
Jongbloed was worse than van Beveren under the stick, but was able to come out and stop dangerous attacks in a way Jan van Beveren never coal. After that, Cruyff added some ideas to the concept, then Pep Guardiola did the same and you know the rest. That's a longa history of people, who were just as creative when it comes to the position, actually more, than Pep Guardiola was. The only difference is Pep Guardiola was more marketable than those guys. Of course, who tops the least of contributing the most to the goalkeepers' revolution is Grosics. All of who preceded Pep Guardiola contributed more than Pep, and Pep himself has made several statements confirming that.
Following the Marketability Line
As far as football history goes, this seems like the probable line, it starts with Grosics and it continued to Pep Guardiola. However, that line is only football-focused thus it's more memorable to us football fans as those are names we recognize. Even if we don't know the names of many, then we do know there was a Golden Team in Hungary's history who originated the idea and we know the Dutch got inspired by it, we also know Barcelona was close to the Dutch style, thus the line makes sense and it is recognizable even if we miss the details.
However, that's because those names, at various degrees, are marketable to us. Nonetheless, the actual source of such revolution isn't even a person but actually a game that existed long before Pep Guardiola was even born, before Cruyff even played football, before Rinus Michels was conceived, and even before the Golden Team was even playing. A game that is very similar to football, but since its very inception, required the goalkeeper to perform all the tasks Grosics adopted all the way to what Pep asks for in his keeper.
The game I speak of is, of course, football's less marketable, less watched, and less famous football little brother, Futsal. This is where we realize that every reason that called for the goalkeepers' revolution and evolution already in futsal since its inception. But, more on that in the next part.
Sources
Euro 2016: Which is the greatest team in history of international football?
HOW GOALKEEPERS HAVE EVOLVED from 1871-2020
The football field and its dimensions
Thirty years of the backpass ban: The story of modern football’s best rule change
futsal
THE GOALKEEPER COACH: AN UNDERAPPRECIATED MASTERMIND
Part 1 - Tony Elliott: Futsal Goalkeeper Techniques | FA Learning Coaching Session
Andy Reading: Key Attributes Of A Futsal Goalkeeper | FA Learning Interview
Goalkeepers in futsal: An expert view
THE HISTORY OF FUTSAL
MARCOS ABAD EXCLUSIVE: LEEDS’ GOALKEEPER COACH ON ‘BIELSABALL’, ADAPTING TO CHANGE, AND THE LANGUAGE OF GOALKEEPING
Feet (not hands), X-rays and seat-belts: How you scout – and train – a goalkeeper
Training technology puts Bournemouth at forefront of goalkeeping revolution
The most spoken languages in the world
Ajax ontdekte door Onana dat de keepersopleiding niet klopte | Bij de datanerds van Ajax