Best Goalkeepers In Football

Playing the role of the goalkeepers is the most difficult job in football. Here we are discussing some such players who are legends of this art. Goalkeeping in football is often considered a job that most people do not appreciate. People do not go to the goalkeeper every time and say that you have done very well, but if the goalkeeper misses to save even one goal, which causes a loss to his team, then many times he is criticized a lot.

Compared to other players playing on the field, which is the busiest during the match, goalkeepers get very few chances to even touch the ball. However, whenever a goalkeeper gets a chance to touch the ball in a match, it is the most important moment for his team, which is the crucial moment between victory and defeat.

Even a small mistake by a goalkeeper can prove to be a big loss for the team. Most of the time, the goalkeeper is held responsible for the team’s defeat, no matter how good his performance was throughout the match. However, on the contrary, when the team wins, in most cases the credit goes to the goal scorer.

For this reason, it would not be wrong to say that on the football field, the role of a goalkeeper is always the most difficult, where only the best performance is expected from them and nothing less than that is acceptable.

But, it is also a fact that it is almost impossible for any goalkeeper to maintain that level of consistency and performance during a career that usually lasts for 10-20 years. However, there are some goalkeepers who have accomplished many such feats during their career, due to which today they are placed in the category of legendary goalkeepers.

Here we are discussing some of the best goalkeepers of all time who have given a new dimension to the dignity of football.

World’s Best Goalkeepers

Iker Casillas (Spain)

Iker Casillas is a great goalkeeper of the modern era. He is the cornerstone of Spain’s golden generation, which dominated international football from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s.

 

He had all the qualities of a great goalkeeper. Apart from this, Casillas is also known for the fact that he remained very calm even under pressure and many times he surprisingly saved important goals for his team in very exciting matches. Due to this, he was also known as ‘San Iker’ or ‘Saint Iker’.

This specialty of his also made him a natural captain. There is no doubt that he is one of the best captains in the world of football. Apart from leading Spain to the European Championship in 2008 and 2012, Iker Casillas also led Spain to their first-ever FIFA World Cup win in 2010.

He saved a total of 102 goals in 167 matches played for Spain. With this stat, Iker Casillas is the only goalkeeper to have achieved more than 100 clean sheets in international football. He has kept opponents in more than 60 percent of the matches, which is an astonishing stat.

Casillas is also considered a Real Madrid legend. He has won several trophies with Los Blancos, including five La Liga and three UEFA Champions League. He represented Portuguese team Porto in the second half of his career.

Iker Casillas also holds the record for the most clean sheets by any goalkeeper in the UCL. Here he has saved 57 goals in a total of 177 matches.

 

However, due to heart-related problems, Iker Casillas’ career did not last too long, and the Spaniard had to retire in 2020 at the age of just 39. If you look at the careers of some of the top goalkeepers in the game, Iker had to retire quite early.

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)

Talking about the long careers of modern-day goalkeepers, Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon can be a great example. The Italian legend is still playing football even after reaching his 40s.

Casillas’ biggest rival for the title of the best goalkeeper of the 21st century is Buffon, whose trophy cabinet is just as impressive as Casillas’.

 

The former Juventus star was the hero of Italy’s FIFA World Cup 2006 triumph. In seven matches of the tournament, Buffon failed to save just two goals while he did not concede any from open play. The goals he failed to save were an own goal and a free-kick.

Buffon was the Azzurri’s go-to goalkeeper for nearly two decades, from his debut in 1997 until his retirement from international football in 2018. He announced his retirement after Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. He is still Italy’s all-time most-capped player.

In 176 matches for Italy, Gianluigi Buffon has saved 77 goals, the second-highest in international football after Casillas.

The Italian currently plays club football for Parma in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. He is also the only goalkeeper in history to have kept more than 500 clean sheets.

Manuel Neuer (Germany)

Germany has a tradition of producing great goalkeepers, with players such as Oliver Kahn, Bert Trautmann, and Sepp Maier all greats in their own right.

However, Germany’s current No. 1 Manuel Neuer comes into focus. The former Schalke and current Bayern Munich forward seems to have perfected modern goalkeeping.

Neuer’s natural pace, physical strength, and ball control can challenge many top-class outfield players. These qualities make him a unique goalkeeper. These qualities also allow him to come out of his area and participate in build-up play, and as a sweeper-keeper, he often prevents scoring chances, which helps his team put pressure on the opposition.

 

Although this may seem like a risky strategy, Neuer’s presence is a great help to his coach in devising strategies. Neuer also passes brilliantly and can easily distribute the ball from deep to his players, making him an excellent player from deep whenever his team needs him to.

The legendary German player is a top-class athlete and is very active, which helps him make amazing saves. Neuer has won 10 Bundesliga titles and two UEFA Champions League trophies, and he also helped Germany win the FIFA World Cup in 2014. His stellar performances ended Germany’s 24-year wait for a World Cup trophy.

Even now that she is in her mid-thirties, one can expect Neuer to still hold many more records.

Nadine Angerer (German women’s goalkeeper)

In a career spanning over two decades, Nadine Angerer was part of the German women’s football team that won two FIFA Women’s World Cups (2003 and 2007), five consecutive European Championships (1997 to 2003) and three Olympic bronze medals (2000, 2004 and 2008).

Interestingly, Nadine Angerer was not the first-choice goalkeeper for the 2003 World Cup. However, she was called up to the 2007 edition due to Silke Rotenberg’s injury. Prior to this, Angerer had been playing for the national team for over a decade as a substitute for Rotenberg.

 

This became a historic moment for both Angerer and world football as she did not concede a single goal during the entire tournament spanning 540 minutes of play.

Nadine Angerer was awarded the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award in the year 2013. She is the first goalkeeper in history to receive this honor.

Apart from the players discussed above in this article, Gordon Banks, the hero of England’s 1966 World Cup victory, Manchester United legends Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar, USA women’s team idol Hope Solo, Italian World Cup winner Dino Zoff are some notable names who have given goalkeeping a new and higher dimension with their brilliant talent.

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