THE ADIDAS Golden Glove has been awarded to the tournament’s best goalkeeper at every World Cup since 1994, when it was known as the Lev Yashin Award. Over the last five tournaments, the award has gone to some of the most decorated goalkeepers of their generation, each of them leaving a clear mark on the competition.
Those wanting to bet on World Cup odds will have seen them shifting throughout the tournament, and there has been much talk about who will be awarded the best keeper of the 2026 edition. Let’s take a look back at the last five winners of the Golden Glove award.
Gianluigi Buffon – Italy, 2006
Buffon was 28 when Italy won the World Cup in Germany, and his tournament statistics are as clean as any on this list. He played all seven matches, kept five clean sheets, and conceded just two goals across 690 minutes of football.
The final against France finished 1-1 after extra time and went to a penalty shootout, which Italy won 5-3. Buffon conceded to Zinedine Zidane’s penalty in the seventh minute, the only goal he let in across the knockout rounds. The defence he anchored, with Fabio Cannavaro ahead of him, was the best at that World Cup, and Buffon was a significant part of why.
Iker Casillas – Spain, 2010
Spain won the World Cup for the first time in South Africa 2010, and Casillas was central to it. He played all seven games, kept five clean sheets, and conceded just two goals from 660 minutes. The one penalty he faced came in the quarter-final against Paraguay, which he saved to help Spain through.
Spain’s approach was built on control and pressing, which naturally limited what oppositions could create, but Casillas made decisive contributions when called upon. His save from Arjen Robben in the final, with the score at 0-0 in extra time, remains one of the moments that defined that tournament.
Manuel Neuer – Germany, 2014
Neuer’s case is the most debated of the five, and not entirely without reason. Germany won the World Cup in Brazil, and Neuer played all seven games, but his numbers are looser than his predecessors: four clean sheets and four goals conceded in 690 minutes. His stats on the ball, however, are what made the award compelling.
Neuer spent the tournament operating as a sweeper-keeper, regularly playing 20 or 30 metres outside his box to cut off through balls and start attacks. His distribution was a key part of how Germany built from the back, and the award reflected that all-round contribution rather than clean sheet numbers alone.
Thibaut Courtois – Belgium, 2018
Courtois is the only winner on this list whose team did not reach the final. Belgium finished third in Russia, which makes his Golden Glove one of the more unusual awards in the tournament’s history, going against all football odds. He played all seven games, made three clean sheets and conceded six goals, a higher tally than any other winner here.
What made the award impossible to argue with was the volume and difficulty of what he stopped. Against Brazil in the quarter-final, Courtois produced one of the finest individual performances of the tournament, making nine saves in a game Belgium won 2-1. At 26, it was the kind of tournament that confirmed him as the best goalkeeper in the world at that stage.
Emiliano Martinez – Argentina, 2022
Martinez had the most active tournament of any goalkeeper on this list. Argentina became world champions in Qatar, and he played all seven games, keeping three clean sheets, but the standout contribution came in the shootouts. He saved two penalties against the Netherlands in the quarter-final, stopping efforts from Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis, then produced a crucial stop against France’s Kingsley Coman in the final shootout.
The final itself finished 3-3 after extra time, with Argentina twice pegged back by France. Martinez saved another penalty from Randal Kolo Muani in extra time before Argentina won the shootout 4-2. He was 30, playing at his first World Cup, and walked away with both the Golden Glove and a winner’s medal.
Article by Samantha Jensen
