World Cup Golden Glove Odds & History

With every World Cup tournament, awards are handed out at the end of the tournament to the best players. The Golden Boot is awarded to the tournament’s top goalscorer, the Golden Ball is given to the best overall player, and the Golden Glove is given to the best goalkeeper. But unlike the other two awards, the award handed out to goalkeepers has been through a lot of change.

Here, we take a closer look at the history of the Golden Glove, and who could win it in the upcoming 2022 edition…

Since the first edition of the World Cup back in 1930, goalkeepers have been recognised for their performances and achievements over the course of a World Cup tournament. There was no single award for the best-performing goalkeeper then – instead, the best goalkeeper was awarded with a place in the tournament’s All-Star Team (essentially a Team of The Tournament).

But, in the 1994 edition of the World Cup, which was held in the United States, goalkeepers were finally given their own award in the form of the Lev Yashin award, named in honour of the iconic Russian goalkeeper. This award ran for the next three tournaments, before there was another change for the 2010 World Cup that was being held in South Africa.

The award was renamed as the Golden Glove, and that is the award that has been handed out to goalkeepers ever since. Below is a quick rundown of all the award winners throughout history…

Goalkeepers named in the All-Star Team of the Tournament:

Lev Yashin Award Winners:

Golden Glove Winners:

The 2022 edition of the tournament kicks off on the 21st of November, and there will be some top-class goalkeepers at the tournament who will be playing for their countries and looking to win world football’s top prize. But they will also be hoping to win the Golden Glove as well, and here we take a quick look at the goalkeepers’ who are likely to do so…

Could Jordan Pickford be a surprise winner for England? Pickford kept five clean sheets for his country at Euro 2020, with England not conceding a goal in the competition until Mikkel Damsgaard’s free-kick in the semi-finals. England have impressed in their last two international tournaments, making the final of Euro 2020 and the semi-final of the last World Cup and Pickford was a big part of England getting so far, so could it be an impressive outing for Pickford one again?

After winning the award in 2018, could Thibaut Courtois be the first goalkeeper to regain the award? The Belgian conceded six goals and kept three clean sheets to win the award in 2018. And Courtois followed his 2018 World Cup campaign with an impressive showing at Euro 2020, finishing the competition with three clean sheets and conceding just three goals. And with an impressive club season for Real Madrid under his belt, it’s likely that Courtois will carry on this form going into next season.

Germany’s Manuel Neuer has also won the award very recently and will be looking to pick it up again - the Bayern Munich shot-stopper picked up the award in Germany’s victorious 2014 campaign, keeping 4 clean sheets and conceding just 4 goals across 7 matches. It is likely to be the last international tournament for the 36-year-old, and so he will be wanting to put in the performance of his career in this tournament as he looks to add to his international legacy, which another Golden Glove and/or World Cup would definitely do to cement Neuer as an all-time legend.

With yet another impressive, trophy-laden season at Liverpool under his belt which means the Brazilian has now won every major club trophy possible, Alisson will be looking to now win world football’s biggest prize for his country.

Alisson performed well at the last World Cup for his country, helping Brazil to a first-place finish in Group E, conceding just 1 goal in 3 group-stage games. Alisson kept three clean sheets overall in five matches, but Brazil conceded two to Belgium and were knocked out in the quarter-final. And Alisson performed well for Brazil in the last 2 Copa America tournaments, with Brazil winning in 2019 and finishing runners-up in 2021, even picking up the Golden Glove in Brazil’s 2019 win.

So with a Golden Glove already under his belt, could Alisson pick up another one on the biggest stage?

France won the last World Cup in a very dominant fashion, and Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris played a part in the victory, with impressive performances in the group stage (conceding just one goal) and throughout France’s knockout matches. And with France still possessing much of the squad that triumphed in 2018, they have a fantastic chance at winning the World Cup again.

With world-class players like Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba all in amazing form when they pull on their national side’s jersey, Lloris will be hopeful that impressive performances from them and his defenders could help him to a surprise Golden Glove win.

The 1990 World Cup had two goalkeepers named as best of the tournament – Argentina’s Sergio Goycochea and Costa Rica’s Luis Gabelo Conejo.

Michel Preud’homme’s outstanding performances in 1994 ensured that he won the first-ever Lev Yashin award, despite Belgium only making it as far as the round-of-16 that year.

Gianluigi Buffon’s impressive World Cup showing in 2006 helped the Italian to a stunning second-place Ballon d’Or finish, with teammate Fabio Cannavaro finishing ahead of him.

The “Best Goalkeeper” award has been won on home soil five times – Uruguay’s Enrique Ballestrero in 1930, England’s Gordon Banks in 1966, West Germany’s Sepp Maier in 1974, Argentina’s Ubaldo Fillol in 1978, and France’s Fabien Barthez in 1998.

Uruguay (Enrique Ballestrero, Roque Maspoli and Ladislao Mazurkiewicz) and Germany (Manuel Neuer, Oliver Kahn and Sepp Maier) are the only countries to have won the “Best Goalkeeper Award” at a World Cup more than two times, with three each.

The 1990 tournament was the last time that a goalkeeper from outside of Europe picked up the award.

Fabien Barthez conceded just two goals in France’s victorious campaign in 1998.

Bayern Munich’s Oliver Kahn won not only the Golden Glove award in 2002 for his performances but also the Golden Ball for the best overall player of the tournament – the only goalkeeper ever to have won the “Best Player” award.

Northern Ireland’s Harry Gregg was named in the All-Star team in 1958 despite conceding a double-digit tally of goals across the tournament.

Argentina’s Sergio Goycochea, who was named in the All-Star team, saved a total of four penalties in penalty shootouts in the 1990 edition.

Gianluigi Buffon conceded just two goals throughout the 2006 World Cup tournament, and of those two goals - the first was an own-goal from teammate Cristian Zaccardo, and the second was a penalty by Zinedine Zidane in the final.

Uruguay’s Ladislao Mazurkiewicz became the third Uruguayan goalkeeper to be named in the All-Star team, despite Uruguay not even making it to the final in 1970.

Fabien Barthez, Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon are the only goalkeepers to have won the World Cup while conceding just two goals across a whole tournament.