You're calling this a foul against the attacker? Okay. What's the competition here? Preseason between Polish teams? I'm most interested in what appear to be the relatively muted reactions from the defenders. One guy looks surprised but others don't. What I'm getting at is whether or not this is under the auspices of a competition that just said "we're going to crack down on hits to the head by the goalkeeper" or not. Sort of like the season in MLS a few years back where late challenges to the goalkeeper's head on the floor were red cards. Because if this is based on a specific instruction like that, okay. Otherwise, I don't see it as a foul. One player is legally trying to play it with his head and the other is legally trying to play it with his hands. They come together and the attacker admittedly takes the brunt of the pain but after/as the goalkeeper clears it cleanly. If this was two opponents doing the exact same thing with their legs for a loose ball, we'd say the defender (goalkeeper) won the ball and then there was a coming together. I don't think we can suddenly say it's a foul because it involves a punch. Unless, of course, there is an instruction to that effect OR you really believe he's recklessly punched at the ball... and I don't see that.
I really don’t see how this is a foul. Sometimes goalkeepers get away with punching players in the head going to clear a ball but that’s not this at all. To me this is GK going up fairly, punching the ball away, then the attackers head makes contact with the GK’s forearms which is expected contact from a keeper reaching over an attackers head to fairly clear a ball. And it isn’t like the GK came in full speed arms and fists outstretched pointed directly at the attacker ahead so he hits the ball then obliterates the head afterward which will likely still be a foul. But as usual with these situations, it sucks to see a professional referee call this and no review is made so now I wonder if this is actually supposed to be called a foul
this actually is a third round of the Polish top division. So this call on the field has been cleared by VAR and we are not in the first match day either. Unfortunately I do not have the insight into what kind of instructions have been given in Poland before this season so I am not sure, but there I was at this game in person and it happened basically in front of me and yes, there were hardly any protests - it was completely accepted. There have been some talk in the media about this that perhaps this was not a correct call but it did not at all rise to any level of a scandal or anything like that either.