The list of Golden Glove winner is short, but the goalkeepers in it had great performances. Every player on a team is important for success at the highest level of competition, but goalkeepers didn’t get recognized with a positional award until 1994 with the prize that is now called the Golden Glove.
In its origin the trophy was named the Lev Yashin Award that determined who was the best goalkeeper of the competition. The name logically referred to the Soviet former player who remains the best ever at the position for many people.
This was changed for the 2010 edition, when the award was renamed the Golden Glove. Being relatively new compared to the history of the competition, there have only been eight winners of the prized award, with four of them also becoming champions. The winner is chosen by FIFA’s Technical Study Group.
Every Golden Glove winner
World CupGolden Glove winnerTeamClean sheetsTeam’s finish1994Michel Preud’hommeBelgium2Round of 161998Fabien BarthezFrance5Champions2002Oliver Kahn*Germany5Runners-up2006Gianluigi BuffonItaly5Champions2010Iker CasillasSpain5Champions2014Manuel NeuerGermany4Champions2018Thibaut CourtoisBelgium3Third place2022Emiliano MartínezArgentina3Champions*Also won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player in 2002.