Jean-Marie Pfaff at Runa Ralley 2007 cropped

The IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

award given annually since 1987 to the best

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

of the year as voted by the

International Federation of Football History & Statistics The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

(IFFHS). The votes are cast by IFFHS's editorial staff as well as experts from different continents. 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 Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

, Spain's Iker Casillas and Germany's

Manuel Neuer Manuel Peter Neuer (; born 27 March 1986) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for and captain (association football), captains club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munic ...

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.

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

is the team with the most wins, with a total of nine.

Men's winners

has made the top three an unprecedented fourteen times. This includes five wins (joint record with Iker Casillas and

), six runner-up (record) and three third-placed finishes.

List of winners

Statistics

Continental winners

Bold indicates the World's Best Man Goalkeeper winner.

Men's historical all-time World Best Goalkeepers top 10

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

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

At the end of the 20th century, the IFFHS also voted on the World's Goalkeeper of the Century, won by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's Lev Yashin running ahead of Gordon Banks and

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever ...

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

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 Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

running ahead of Iker Casillas and

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Oxford City Stars. He has ...

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

running ahead of Iker Casillas and

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch association football, football executive and former professional player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was most recently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, A ...

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

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.

Women's winners

List of winners

Statistics

Continental winners

Bold indicates the World's Best Woman Goalkeeper winner.

Women's historical all-time World Best Goalkeepers top 10

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

References

External links

IFFHS official website

The World's Best Goalkeeper
at IFFHS.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Iffhs World's Best Goalkeeper International Federation of Football History & Statistics Association football goalkeeper awards Association football player non-biographical articles

Men's winners

List of winners

Statistics

Continental winners

Men's historical all-time World Best Goalkeepers top 10

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

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

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

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

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

Women's winners

List of winners

Statistics

Continental winners

Women's historical all-time World Best Goalkeepers top 10

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

See also

References

External links