There are usually five uniforms or kits during a normal soccer game. First, there are the two teams, who usually wear kits that are clearly distinct (i.e. blue and red, or white and black). Second, within the two teams, the goalkeepers wear different colors. Third, the referees wear colors that are, again, clearly different to the other player colors (usually black, white, or some fluorescent green).

But goalies always look different. This is for two reasons.

First, goalies wear long sleeve shirts because they’re meant to be using their arms more than the other conventional players on the field. The long sleeves help protect the goalie when they have to slide along the ground to defend the goal. For this reason, goalie shirts are also fairly well padded, especially around the elbows. This padding would not be possible with short sleeve shirts.

Second, goalies have different capabilities to other players. On certain parts of the field, they’re allowed to pick the ball up with their hands, which other players aren’t allowed to do. Also, the goalie is ‘untouchable’: once the goalie has the ball, other players cannot tackle nor wrestle the ball from them. The referee or umpire must be able to easily tell who is the goalie and who is a standard player (especially when a large number of players are in a small area).