IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper

The IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper is a football award given annually since 1987 to the best goalkeeper of the year as voted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The votes are cast by IFFHS's editorial staff as well as experts from different continents.

IFFHS World's Best Man Goalkeeper

Sport	Association football
Awarded for	Best performing man goalkeeper of the calendar year
Presented by	International Federation of Football History & Statistics
History
First award	1987
Editions	38
First winner	Jean-Marie Pfaff
Most wins	Gianluigi Buffon Iker Casillas Manuel Neuer (5 awards each)
Most recent	Emiliano Martínez (1st award)
Website	www.iffhs.com

Belgian goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff was the first ever winner of the award, in 1987.

The winner is announced at the end of the year. The winning goalkeeper is awarded a gold trophy at the World Football Gala. Italy's Gianluigi Buffon, Spain's Iker Casillas and Germany's Manuel Neuer have each won the award a record five times; Casillas won the award for five consecutive years between 2008 and 2012. Below is a list of the previous winners since the first award in 1987, which was won by Belgium's Jean-Marie Pfaff.^[1] Bayern Munich is the team with the most wins, with a total of nine.

Men's winners

Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon holds the record for most wins (alongside Manuel Neuer and Iker Casillas).

Gianluigi Buffon has made the top three an unprecedented fourteen times. This includes five wins (joint record with Iker Casillas and Manuel Neuer), six runner-up (record) and three third-placed finishes.

List of winners

Year	Rank	Player	Club(s)	Points
1987	1st	Jean-Marie Pfaff[1]	Bayern Munich	137
	2nd	Rinat Dasayev	Spartak Moscow	43
	3rd	Walter Zenga	Inter Milan	30
1988	1st	Rinat Dasayev[1]	Spartak Moscow	119
	2nd	Hans van Breukelen	PSV Eindhoven	97
	3rd	Walter Zenga	Inter Milan	31
1989	1st	Walter Zenga[1]	Inter Milan	79
	2nd	Michel Preud'homme	KV Mechelen	38
	3rd	Rinat Dasayev	Sevilla	33
1990	1st	Walter Zenga[1]	Inter Milan	72
	2nd	Michel Preud'homme	KV Mechelen	35
	3rd	Gabelo Conejo	Cartaginés	34
1991	1st	Walter Zenga[1]	Inter Milan	51
	2nd	Sergio Goycochea	Racing Club	37
	3rd	Cláudio Taffarel	Parma	29
1992	1st	Peter Schmeichel[1]	Manchester United	118
	2nd	Andoni Zubizarreta	Barcelona	28
	3rd	Hans van Breukelen	PSV Eindhoven	23
1993	1st	Peter Schmeichel[1]	Manchester United	84
	2nd	Sergio Goycochea	Racing Club	70
	3rd	Jorge Campos	UNAM	23
1994	1st	Michel Preud'homme[1]	KV Mechelen Benfica	103
	2nd	Thomas Ravelli	IFK Göteborg	73
	3rd	Cláudio Taffarel	Reggiana	53
1995	1st	José Luis Chilavert[1]	Vélez Sársfield	37
	2nd	Peter Schmeichel	Manchester United	29
	3rd	Thomas Ravelli	IFK Göteborg	24
1996	1st	Andreas Köpke[1]	Marseille	114
	2nd	David Seaman	Arsenal	101
	3rd	José Luis Chilavert	Vélez Sársfield	44
1997	1st	José Luis Chilavert[1]	Vélez Sársfield	61
	2nd	Angelo Peruzzi	Juventus	57
	3rd	Peter Schmeichel	Manchester United	53
1998	1st	José Luis Chilavert[1]	Vélez Sársfield	198
	2nd	Fabien Barthez	Monaco	146
	3rd	Edwin van der Sar	Ajax	75
1999	1st	Oliver Kahn[1]	Bayern Munich	116
	2nd	Peter Schmeichel	Manchester United	95
	3rd	José Luis Chilavert	Vélez Sársfield	93
2000	1st	Fabien Barthez[1]	Monaco Manchester United	195
	2nd	Oliver Kahn	Bayern Munich	133
	3rd	Francesco Toldo	Fiorentina	131
2001	1st	Oliver Kahn[1]	Bayern Munich	265
	2nd	Oscar Córdoba	Boca Juniors	77
	3rd	Gianluigi Buffon	Parma Juventus	69
2002	1st	Oliver Kahn[1]	Bayern Munich	316
	2nd	Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	101
	3rd	Rüştü Reçber	Fenerbahçe	99
2003	1st	Gianluigi Buffon[1]	Juventus	186
	2nd	Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	112
	3rd	Oliver Kahn	Bayern Munich	106
2004	1st	Gianluigi Buffon[1]	Juventus	185
	2nd	Petr Čech	Rennes Chelsea	125
	3rd	Dida	Milan	78
2005	1st	Petr Čech[1]	Chelsea	175
	2nd	Dida	Milan	91
	3rd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	78
2006	1st	Gianluigi Buffon[1]	Juventus	295
	2nd	Jens Lehmann	Arsenal	140
	3rd	Petr Čech	Chelsea	91
2007	1st	Gianluigi Buffon[1]	Juventus	209
	2nd	Petr Čech	Chelsea	172
	3rd	Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	124
2008	1st	Iker Casillas[2]	Real Madrid	249
	2nd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	170
	3rd	Edwin van der Sar	Manchester United	143
2009	1st	Iker Casillas[3]	Real Madrid	230
	2nd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	150
	3rd	Júlio César	Inter Milan	124
2010	1st	Iker Casillas[4]	Real Madrid	304
	2nd	Júlio César	Inter Milan	124
	3rd	Petr Čech	Chelsea	56
2011	1st	Iker Casillas[5]	Real Madrid	248
	2nd	Manuel Neuer	Schalke 04 Bayern Munich	130
	3rd	Víctor Valdés	Barcelona	114
2012	1st	Iker Casillas[6]	Real Madrid	224
	2nd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	128
	3rd	Petr Čech	Chelsea	92
2013	1st	Manuel Neuer[7]	Bayern Munich	211
	2nd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	78
	3rd	Petr Čech	Chelsea	64
2014	1st	Manuel Neuer[8]	Bayern Munich	216
	2nd	Thibaut Courtois	Atlético Madrid Chelsea	96
	3rd	Keylor Navas	Levante Real Madrid	46
2015	1st	Manuel Neuer[9]	Bayern Munich	188
	2nd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	78
	3rd	Claudio Bravo	Barcelona	45
2016	1st	Manuel Neuer[10]	Bayern Munich	156
	2nd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	91
	3rd	Rui Patrício	Sporting CP	50
2017	1st	Gianluigi Buffon[11]	Juventus	251
	2nd	Manuel Neuer	Bayern Munich	103
	3rd	Keylor Navas	Real Madrid	85
2018	1st	Thibaut Courtois[12]	Chelsea Real Madrid	181
	2nd	Hugo Lloris	Tottenham Hotspur	109
	3rd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus Paris Saint-Germain	59
2019	1st	Alisson[13]	Liverpool	386
	2nd	Marc-André ter Stegen	Barcelona	104
	3rd	Jan Oblak	Atlético Madrid	67
2020	1st	Manuel Neuer[14]	Bayern Munich	320
	2nd	Jan Oblak	Atlético Madrid	40
	3rd	Alisson	Liverpool	30
2021	1st	Gianluigi Donnarumma[15]	Milan Paris Saint-Germain	170
	2nd	Manuel Neuer	Bayern Munich	75
	3rd	Édouard Mendy	Chelsea	40
2022	1st	Thibaut Courtois[16]	Real Madrid	125
	2nd	Emiliano Martínez	Aston Villa	110
	3rd	Yassine Bounou	Sevilla	55
2023	1st	Ederson[17]	Manchester City	145
	2nd	Emiliano Martínez	Aston Villa	76
	3rd	Thibaut Courtois	Real Madrid	73
2024	1st	Emiliano Martínez[18]	Aston Villa	167
	2nd	Unai Simón	Athletic Bilbao	91
	3rd	Giorgi Mamardashvili	Valencia	55

Statistics

Winners (1987–present)^[19]

Player	Wins	Years
Gianluigi Buffon	5	2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2017
Manuel Neuer		2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020
Iker Casillas		2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Walter Zenga	3	1989, 1990, 1991
José Luis Chilavert		1995, 1997, 1998
Oliver Kahn		1999, 2001, 2002
Peter Schmeichel	2	1992, 1993
Thibaut Courtois		2018, 2022
Jean-Marie Pfaff	1	1987
Rinat Dasayev		1988
Michel Preud'homme		1994
Andreas Köpke		1996
Fabien Barthez		2000
Petr Čech		2005
Alisson		2019
Gianluigi Donnarumma		2021
Ederson		2023
Emiliano Martínez		2024

Wins by club

Club	Total	Players
Bayern Munich	9	3
Real Madrid	7	2
Juventus	5	1
Manchester United	3	2
Inter Milan	3	1
Vélez Sársfield	3	1
Chelsea	2	2
Benfica	1	1
KV Mechelen	1	1
Liverpool	1	1
Marseille	1	1
Milan	1	1
Monaco	1	1
Paris Saint-Germain	1	1
Spartak Moscow	1	1
Manchester City	1	1
Aston Villa	1	1

Wins by nationality

Nationality	Total	Players
Germany	9	3
Italy	9	3
Spain	5	1
Belgium	4	3
Paraguay	3	1
Brazil	2	2
Denmark	2	1
Czech Republic	1	1
France	1	1
Soviet Union	1	1
Argentina	1	1

Continental winners

Bold indicates the World's Best Man Goalkeeper winner.

Year	Confederation	Winner	Club(s)
2021	UEFA	Gianluigi Donnarumma[20]	Milan Paris Saint-Germain
	CONMEBOL	Emiliano Martínez[21]	Aston Villa
	CONCACAF	Guillermo Ochoa[22]	América
	CAF	Édouard Mendy[23]	Chelsea
	AFC	Mathew Ryan[24]	Real Sociedad
	OFC	Oliver Sail[25]	Wellington Phoenix

All-time World's Best Goalkeeper ranking (since 1987)

As of 30 March 2023^[26]

Top 10 players

Rank	Player	Nation	Points
1	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	357
2	Iker Casillas	Spain	260
3	Manuel Neuer	Germany	219
4	Petr Čech	Czech Republic	218
5	Edwin van der Sar	Netherlands	201
6	Peter Schmeichel	Denmark	179
7	Oliver Kahn	Germany	162
8	Thibaut Courtois	Belgium	150
9	José Luis Chilavert	Paraguay	146
10	Walter Zenga	Italy	132

The World's Best Man Goalkeeper of the Century (1901–2000)

At the end of the 20th Century, Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin was named World's Goalkeeper of the Century by IFFHS.

At the end of the 20th century, the IFFHS also voted on the World's Goalkeeper of the Century, won by the Soviet Union's Lev Yashin running ahead of Gordon Banks and Dino Zoff.^[27][28]

Top 10 players

Rank	Player	Nation	Period	Points
1	Lev Yashin	Soviet Union	1950–1970	1002
2	Gordon Banks	England	1963–1972	717
3	Dino Zoff	Italy	1968–1983	661
4	Sepp Maier	West Germany	1966–1979	456
5	Ricardo Zamora	Spain	1920–1936	443
6	José Luis Chilavert	Paraguay	1989–2003	373
7	Peter Schmeichel	Denmark	1987–2001	291
8	Peter Shilton	England	1970–1990	196
9	František Plánička	Czechoslovakia	1926–1938	194
10	Amadeo Carrizo	Argentina	1954–1964	192

The World's Best Man Goalkeeper of the Decade (2001–2010)

In 2011, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was named World's Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century's first decade by IFFHS; in 2012, he was named World's Best Goalkeeper of the Past 25 Years. He also holds the record for most IFFHS Goalkeeper of the Year Award victories, alongside Iker Casillas and Manuel Neuer, with five.

In 2011, the IFFHS also voted on The World's Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century's first decade, taking into consideration goalkeepers' performances during the first decade of the 21st century, between 2001 and 2011; the award was won by the Italy's Gianluigi Buffon running ahead of Iker Casillas and Petr Čech.^[29]

Top 10 players

Rank	Player	Nation	Points
1	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	199
2	Iker Casillas	Spain	197
3	Petr Čech	Czech Republic	154
4	Edwin van der Sar	Netherlands	116
5	Oliver Kahn	Germany	99
6	Dida	Brazil	90
7	Víctor Valdés	Spain	82
8	Júlio César	Brazil	76
9	Jens Lehmann	Germany	72
10	Roberto Abbondanzieri	Argentina	68

Iker Casillas ranked second in both rankings.

The World's Best Man Goalkeeper of the Past 25 Years: 1987–2012

In 2012, the IFFHS also voted on The World's Best Goalkeeper of the past 25 years, taking into consideration goalkeepers' performances between 1987 – the year of the award's inception – and 2012; the award was won by the Italy's Gianluigi Buffon running ahead of Iker Casillas and Edwin van der Sar.^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]}

Rank	Player	Nation	Points
1	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	226
2	Iker Casillas	Spain	213
3	Edwin van der Sar	Netherlands	201
4	Peter Schmeichel	Denmark	179
5	Oliver Kahn	Germany	162
6	Petr Čech	Czech Republic	154
7	José Luis Chilavert	Paraguay	146
8	Walter Zenga	Italy	132
9	Andoni Zubizarreta	Spain	132
10	Claudio Taffarel	Brazil	130

The World's Best Man Goalkeeper of the Decade (2011–2020)

In 2021, German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was named The World's Best Goalkeeper of the Decade of the 2010s by IFFHS. He also holds the record for most IFFHS Goalkeeper of the Year Award victories, alongside Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon, with five.

In 2021, the IFFHS voted on The World's Best Goalkeeper of the Decade 2011–2020, taking into consideration goalkeepers' performances during 2011–2020; the award was won by Manuel Neuer running ahead of Gianluigi Buffon and Thibaut Courtois.^[36]

Top 10 players

Rank	Player	Nation	Points
1	Manuel Neuer	Germany	183
2	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	148
3	Thibaut Courtois	Belgium	130
4	Hugo Lloris	France	96
5	Keylor Navas	Costa Rica	93
6	Jan Oblak	Slovenia	85
7	Petr Čech	Czech Republic	80
8	Marc-André ter Stegen	Germany	78
9	David de Gea	Spain	75
10	Iker Casillas	Spain	67

Women's winners

IFFHS World's Best Woman Goalkeeper

Sport	Association football
Awarded for	Best performing woman goalkeeper of the calendar year
Presented by	International Federation of Football History & Statistics
History
First award	2012
Editions	13
First winner	Hope Solo
Most wins	Sarah Bouhaddi Hope Solo (4 awards each)
Most recent	Alyssa Naeher (1st award)
Website	www.iffhs.com

American goalkeeper Hope Solo won the award four times in a row (once ex æquo with Almuth Schult).

French goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi holds the record for most wins (alongside Hope Solo).

List of winners

Year	Rank	Player	Club(s)	Points
2012	1st	Hope Solo	Seattle Sounders	110
	2nd	Nadine Angerer	Eintracht Frankfurt	80
	3rd	Hedvig Lindahl	Kristianstads	35
2013	1st	Hope Solo	Seattle Reign	110
	2nd	Nadine Angerer	Brisbane Roar Eintracht Frankfurt	106
	3rd	Stina Lykke Borg	FCR Duisburg	42
2014	1st	Hope Solo Almuth Schult	Seattle Reign VfL Wolfsburg	110
	2nd	–
	3rd	Nadine Angerer	Brisbane Roar Portland Thorns	45
2015	1st	Hope Solo	Seattle Reign	148
	2nd	Nadine Angerer	Portland Thorns	66
	3rd	Ayumi Kaihori	INAC Kobe Leonessa	36
2016	1st	Sarah Bouhaddi	Lyon	111
	2nd	Almuth Schult	VfL Wolfsburg	82
	3rd	Hope Solo	Seattle Reign	77
2017	1st	Sarah Bouhaddi[37]	Lyon	190
	2nd	Sari van Veenendaal	Arsenal	112
	3rd	Katarzyna Kiedrzynek	Paris Saint-Germain	42
2018	1st	Sarah Bouhaddi[38]	Lyon	185
	2nd	Almuth Schult	VfL Wolfsburg	121
	3rd	Ashlyn Harris	Orlando Pride	48
2019	1st	Sari van Veenendaal[39]	Arsenal Atlético Madrid	185
	2nd	Sarah Bouhaddi	Lyon	92
	3rd	Alyssa Naeher	Chicago Red Stars	82
2020	1st	Sarah Bouhaddi[40]	Lyon	220
	2nd	Christiane Endler	Paris Saint-Germain	55
	3rd	Ann Katrin Berger	Chelsea	25
2021	1st	Christiane Endler[41]	Paris Saint-Germain Lyon	110
	2nd	Sandra Paños	Barcelona	100
	3rd	Stephanie Labbé	FC Rosengård Paris Saint-Germain	45
2022	1st	Christiane Endler[42]	Lyon	105
	2nd	Mary Earps	Manchester United	50
	3rd	Merle Frohms	VfL Wolfsburg	25
2023	1st	Mary Earps[43]	Manchester United	164
	2nd	Sandra Paños	Barcelona	78
	3rd	Zećira Mušović	Chelsea	49
2024	1st	Alyssa Naeher[44]	Chicago Red Stars	109
	2nd	Cata Coll	Barcelona	96
	3rd	Mary Earps	Manchester United Paris Saint-Germain	91

Statistics

Winners (2012–present)^[45]

Player	Wins	Years
Hope Solo	4	2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Sarah Bouhaddi		2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
Christiane Endler	2	2021, 2022
Almuth Schult	1	2014
Sari van Veenendaal		2019
Mary Earps		2023
Alyssa Naeher		2024

Wins by club

Club	Total	Players
Lyon	6	2
OL Reign	4	1
VfL Wolfsburg	1	1
Arsenal	1	1
Atlético Madrid	1	1
Paris Saint-Germain	1	1
Manchester United	1	1
Chicago Red Stars	1	1

Wins by nationality

Nationality	Total	Players
United States	5	2
France	4	1
Chile	2	1
Germany	1	1
Netherlands	1	1
England	1	1

Continental winners

Bold indicates the World's Best Woman Goalkeeper winner.

Year	Confederation	Winner	Club(s)
2021	UEFA	Sandra Paños[46]	Barcelona
	CONMEBOL	Christiane Endler[47]	Paris Saint-Germain Lyon
	CONCACAF	Stephanie Labbé[48]	FC Rosengård Paris Saint-Germain
	CAF	Chiamaka Nnadozie[49]	Paris FC
	AFC	Teagan Micah[50]	FC Rosengård
	OFC	Victoria Esson[51]	Avaldsnes

The World's Best Woman Goalkeeper of the Decade (2011–2020)

German goalkeeper Almuth Schult was named The World's Best Woman Goalkeeper of the Decade of the 2010s by IFFHS. As part of the German national team, she won the gold medals of the 2013 UEFA Championship and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Top 10 players^[52]

Rank	Player	Nation	Points
1	Almuth Schult	Germany	132
2	Sarah Bouhaddi	France	115
3	Hope Solo	United States	98
4	Hedvig Lindahl	Sweden	95
5	Nadine Angerer	Germany	75
6	Karen Bardsley	England	75
7	Sari van Veenendaal	Netherlands	69
8	Christiane Endler	Chile	63
9	Sandra Paños	Spain	56
10	Alyssa Naeher	United States	51

See also

• International Federation of Football History & Statistics
• IFFHS World's Best Club
• IFFHS World's Best Player
• IFFHS World's Best Top Goal Scorer
• IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer
• IFFHS World Team
• IFFHS World's Best Club Coach
• IFFHS World's Best National Coach