De Gea, Alisson, Neuer, Courtois: Ranking the 50 best goalkeepers of all time

In partnership with

GiveMeSport

·15 November 2022

De Gea, Alisson, Neuer, Courtois: Ranking the 50 best goalkeepers of all time

“I would say the keeper is the most important player on the team,” Man City boss Pep Guardiola once said.

Indeed, while outfield players often steal most of the headlines, goalkeepers have the potential to be both the hero and the villain in the blink of an eye.

OneFootball Videos

A great goalkeeper can thus make the difference in the biggest of matches and essentially turn a good team into a world-class side.

From that famous Gordan Banks stop, to Alisson’s heroics in front of the Kop — there have been plenty of outstanding shot-stoppers, both past and present.

We at GiveMeSport have, therefore, decided to honour the greatest keepers in football history and devised a list of the best players to ever stand between the sticks.

How will the ranking work?

We’ve decided to use the tried and tested Tiermaker website to rank the top 50 goalkeepers to grace the game.

The list of players comprises both male and female stars, as we want to pay tribute to exceptional figures from across all of football.

However, there is no attempt to directly compare the men on the list with the woman — this is merely a celebration of supreme goalkeeping talent.

We’ve acknowledged a number of criteria when it comes to ranking these individuals, including longevity, silverware and specific moments of magic. Yet, do remember that all of this is ultimately subjective.

Anyway, enough rambling — check out our ranking below:

Safe Hands

Tim Howard, Joe Hart, Jens Lehmann, Sandra Paños, Júlio César, Marc-André ter Stegen, Frank Swift, Michel Preud’homme, Pat Jennings, Ivo Viktor

What better way to start than with Lehmann — a man who played an integral role in Arsenal’s ‘invincibles’ campaign in 2003/04.

Howard and Hart were also Premier League stalwarts back in the day and arguably among the most underrated keepers to grace the League.

The former made almost 400 Premier League appearances, while Hart helped City win five trophies during his time at the club.

César is another to have spent time in the Prem, though the Brazilian is best known for his seven-year spell at Inter Milan, which saw him nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2009.

Similarly, Viktor was nominated for the Ballon d’Or as well in 1976, owing to his performances for the Czech Republic as they won the European Championship that year.

Moving back a number of decades, Swift made more than 500 appearances for Man City, though he tragically died as part of the Munich air disaster.

When it comes to longevity, however, few can match Northern Irish legend Jennings, who enjoyed an international career which lasted 22 years and saw him play more than 1,000 top-level matches.

Ter Stegan is the second German to be featured in this category. The Barcelona star has long been considered an exceptional goalkeeper, even if he has played second fiddle to Manuel Neuer at international level.

Spanish star Paños is another to have cemented herself in Barcelona folklore. The 30-year-old has won 15 trophies in seven years at the Catalonian club.

In terms of general shot-stopping, Preud’homme was right up with the best ever and the Belgian won the inaugural Yashin Award for his heroics at the 1994 World Cup.

Serious shot-stoppers

Victor Valdés, Fabien Barthez, Sari van Veenendaal, Harald Schumacher, Hedvig Lindahl, Rinat Dasayev, Ayumi Kaihori, Andoni Zubizarreta, Edwin van der Sar, David Seaman

Zubizarreta represented Spain at seven major tournaments and won six La Liga titles with Barcelona.

Valdes, though less prolific at international level, won the same amount and even surpassed Zubizaretta in terms of league appearances for Barcelona.

Ignore Barthez’s spell at Man United — the Frenchman was once the world’s best goalkeeper and helped France win both the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.

Speaking of World Cups, Dasaev featured for Russia at three successive tournaments and was nicknamed ‘the Iron Curtain’ for his incredible reflexes.

Though perhaps best remembered for his tackle on France’s Patrick Battiston, Schumacher was an extremely good goalkeeper and played a part in two World Cup finals for West Germany.

Another to have enjoyed international success is Lindahl, who has made 193 appearances for Sweden since making her debut in 2002.

Contrastingly, Kaihori’s international career was relatively short but her heroics in the 2011 Women’s World Cup final for Japan will long be remembered, as she saved two penalties in the shootout against the USA.

Van der Sar remains the most capped player in Netherlands history and won the Champions League with both Man United and Ajax.

Similarly, van Veenendaal is also a Dutch legend and conceded just three goals at Euro 2017 as the Netherlands won the tournament.

The last name to be featured in this category is Seaman. The former Arsenal star won three Premier League titles with the Gunners and is England’s second-most capped keeper ever.

Future Legends

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alyssa Naeher, David de Gea, Thibaut Courtois, Christiane Endler, Sara Bouhaddi, Ederson, Alisson, Hugo Lloris, Jan Oblak

You could make the case many of these names are already legends, however, they certainly will be once they’ve retired.

Lloris and de Gea have both come under fire for making high-profile mistakes in recent times, yet you cannot ignore their success as a whole.

De Gea has been Man United’s Player of the Season on four occasions and has now made more than 500 appearances for the Red Devils.

Lloris, on the other hand, captained France to victory at the 2018 World Cup and is their most-capped goalkeeper in history.

As for the Alisson vs Ederson debate, we’ve decided to sit on the fence and put both of the impressive Brazilian shot-stoppers in the same category.

It’s a similar story with Donnaruma and Oblak, who are two of the finest goalkeepers in the world right now.

Sticking with the present, Courtois is widely considered the best keeper on the planet at this time and his heroics in the 2022 Champions League final will no doubt seem him retire as a Real Madrid legend.

Endler is likewise considered the best women’s keeper on the planet and helped Lyon win a record-extending eighth Champions League title last season.

Bouhaddi, meanwhile, was Lyon’s first-choice keeper for 13 years before Endler, and has made almost 150 appearances for France.

US star Naeher had to wait her turn between the sticks, but having made her international debut in 2014, she is now a two-time World Cup winner.

Simply World Class

Claudio Taffarel, Gilmar, Nadine Angerer, Giampiero Combi, Jose Luis Chilavert, Sepp Maier, Dida, Walter Zenga, Ricardo Zamora, Dino Zoff

Alisson and Ederson may be legends in waiting but Taffarel and Dida are already Brazilian icons.

The former made 101 international appearances and won the 1994 World Cup, while Dida achieved the same feat in 2002.

However, it was Gilmar who was voted the best Brazilian keeper of the 20th century, having helped his country win back-to-back World Cups in 1958 and 1962.

Despite allegedly smoking up to three packs of cigarettes per day, Zamora was a legend of Spanish football between 1916 and 1936 and played for both Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The Spaniard was regarded as one of the best keepers of his generation, along with Combi — who won the World Cup as captain with Italy in 1934 and five league titles with Juventus.

Combi was voted Italy’s second best keeper of the 20th century, behind only Zoff — the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, aged 40 years, four months and 13 days.

Zenga never won the World Cup but is nonetheless another Italian legend. Indeed, the former Inter Milan star is a three time winner of the IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper and played almost 700 career matches.

Nicknamed ‘the cat from Anzing’, Maier was known for his fast reflexes and won the German Player of the Year award on three occasions.

Angerer is another German hero, having helped Germany win three Women’s European Championships and two World Cups. The 44-year-old also became the first ever keeper to win the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2014.

While all these keepers were famously good shot-stoppers, Chilavert was also a master at scoring goals — converting more than 60 penalties across the course of his career.

All-time greats

Peter Shilton, Oliver Kahn, Peter Schmeichel, Petr Cech, Hope Solo, Manuel Neuer, Gordan Banks, Iker Casillas, Gianluigi Buffon

Shilton may have been in net for Diego Maradona’s double against England in 1986 but he has kept the joint-most clean sheets of any keeper in World Cup history with 10.

He also holds the record for the most competitive appearances in world football with 1,390.

Shilton may have the most appearances for England, but Gordan Banks’ England legacy is just as strong. To this day, his save to deny Pele at the 1970 World Cup is considered one of the greatest ever.

Schmeichel and Cech are often hailed as the best Premier League keepers of all time, though it would take a brave person to determine who was better.

Cech holds the record for most Premier League clean sheets, while Schmeichel won 11 major trophies with United and captained the side to victory in the 1999 Champions League final.

Germany have been blessed with outstanding keepers over the years but Kahn and Neuer are no doubt the best to represent the nation.

Both have become Bayern Munich icons, with Kahn winning the Best European Goalkeeper Award four times on the bounce and Neuer being part of 10 Bundesliga title campaigns.

Meanwhile, Solo’s stats speak for themselves. The US star is a World Cup winner, two-time Olympic champion and earned more than 200 caps for the national team.

Casillas and Buffon were the two dominant goalkeepers for much of the 2000s and it’s hard to separate them.

Both won the World Cup with Spain and Italy respectively. Both earned more than 150 caps for their country and both won numerous domestic honours.

They are unequivocally legends of the game, however, neither has quite done enough to claim the top spot on our list.

The greatest keeper of them all

Lev Yashin

Yashin is regarded by many as the greatest keeper in history and we agree.

The Soviet professional footballer is responsible for revolutionising the goalkeeping position — becoming an imposing and vocal presence on the pitch.

He appeared at four World Cups between 1958 and 1970 — capturing the hearts of the world in 1958 as the tournament was broadcast internationally for the first time.