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In ice hockey, teams that are losing will sometimes pull their goalkeeper late in the game and bring in an extra attacker to increase their chances of scoring and tying the game.
Do teams ever pull their goalie in football and bring in an extra attacker when they are losing? Is this even allowed?
It would certainly be allowed, but it would likely be a failed strategy in soccer.
So subbing in a field player for a keeper is probably a loser as it's a poor use of resources and leaves you in a bind if you succeed.
However, most keepers are capable players and can play the field in a pinch. Thus it's not hugely uncommon for you to see the keeper pushed way up in a situation where his team must score.
However, there are some good reasons to not do this in normal play:
Most soccer league regular season games aren't hugely meaningful, but it can be a lot better to lose 1-0 than it would be to lose 2-0. Which means risking a greater loss to try to tie the game is not beneficial.
Keepers aren't usually good field players. While they may be capable, and they usually have a solid kick, they aren't strikers, and at best, a keeper playing high frees up a mid or back to go up and play a striking role.
It's a long run from the defending third to the attacking one. Most of the time it doesn't make much of a difference to have an extra player on the attack (see how often a team of 10 can play even with a team of 11), so it doesn't make a lot of sense for the keeper to come forward and play a role he's relatively unfamiliar with.
Overall, this strategy can pay, especially on very late set piece opportunities, but in general, it just doesn't seem worth it.
As has been noted, keepers do sometimes come up to act as an attacker during the game, though they are never really subbed out for another attacking player. A couple things to keep in mind from The Laws of the Game.
Players
Page 15: "A match is played by two teams, each consisting of not more than eleven players, one of whom is the goalkeeper"
Page 16: "Any of the other players may change places with the goalkeeper, provided that: • the referee is informed before the change is made • the change is made during a stoppage in the match"
Equipment
Page 19: "• Each goalkeeper must wear colours that distinguish him from the other players, the referee and the assistant referees"
So if you did substitute off a goalkeeper, the sub would have to have a different shirt, or if you swapped a field player with the goalkeeper, they would have to change jerseys. I have seen this happen when the goalkeeper is injured and the team has no more substitutes left - they'll put a midfielder or attacker (sometimes, but rarely, a defender) into goal, but the midfielder will play as a goalkeeper, not as an attacking player.
That being said, the goalkeeper is almost never subbed out except for another goalkeeper. The cost is too high.
EDIT: More often I've seen this happen when the goalkeeper gets a red card and the team has no more subs left. If the goalkeeper interferes with a player trying to score, he can get a red card and if the team has no more subs, they'll have to put a player already on the field into the goal, in which case he'll have to get a different shirt.
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You don't see this in soccer. If a team is desperate to score a goal, the goalie comes out of his net and plays in the middle or front. For example when there is a corner kick, the goalie could go all the way to the opposite box to score.
However, this happens often in indoor soccer. The goalie comes out at the end of the game replaced by an attacker. But this extra attacker should still be wearing a goalie's uniform, since team are required to have designated jersey for goalies and each team must have a goalie.
Yes, it does happen, although not very often. Goal difference can be important at the end of the season, so if your team was losing in a regular game, there's no point going all out to tie when the risk of conceding a goal is very high without a goalie in the net. On the other hand, during cup matches where a team is about to be put out unless they score a goal, you would often see the goalkeeper advance to the other half of the pitch for corner kicks. Two that come to mind:
A point that hasn't been made in the other answers is that this tactic would be numerically much less effective in football than in ice hockey because of the larger teams. In ice hockey, pulling the goalie gives you six outfield players against five, which is a 20% increase over your opponent. In football, it would only give you eleven against ten, a 10% increase of manpower. So, not only is it very expensive (three substitutions in football, versus unlimited in ice hockey), it's also likely to be much less effective.
In soccer the goalkeeper can act just as another player. He can also use his hands in the penalty area, but he can play anywhere. It is relatively usual in play-out matches that the goalkeeper goes to attack, when there is a corner kick in the last minute and they lose by just one goal. This way the goalkeeper can try to score with a header. For instance, this is how Seville beated Shakhtar Donetsk in UEFA Cup 2007, with a goal of the goalkeeper in the last minute. You can google "palop goal" to watch it. It is permitted to pull out the goalkeeper and put any other player in his place, if you have not made all the changes. In this case the team must decide which one is the goalkeeper. But this is not a good idea. You lose more time like this, and it will not make a big difference. You'd better change a defender.
While rare, it does happen. Generally speaking, after an intensive match players are exhausted, but that probably won't apply to the goalkeeper, so if he were a fairly good field player it may be worth for him to leave the box.
I've seen it happen (without an official role switch) during the just finished World Championship in the last minutes of one match, but I'm not sure which that was. Maybe Honduras? (see below)
Honduras captain and championship keeper Noel Valladares said in a german interview he actually scored, albeit after officcially switching role, in their national professional league games. He says his total score is five goals!
They don't pull their goalie, but goalies can go anywhere they want on the field, so if they need an extra attacker on a free kick or something they may bring the goalie up to take the free kick so that they can have everybody else attacking, or they may just get the goalie to participate in the attack. This strategy is only applied if the team needs to score at the end of the match, because if they lose the ball they won't have anybody back so the opposing team can just lob the ball and try to score.
tl;dr the goalie is just another player but one that has special privileges (i.e. can pick up the ball in his/her box), so they don't pull the goalie they send the goalie up onto the attack.
