The Top 10 Goalkeepers in Football History
By Jim James
Hello all, and today we begin a new series. Top 10s. We start with a mini-series inside this series, Top 10 in every position. Today we’ll be covering the top 10 Goalkeepers, in my opinion, of all time. No more, no less. We have a lot to get through today, so let’s begin!
- Andoni Zubizarreta
DOB: 23/10/1961- (60)
Playing Years: 1979-98
Clubs: Alaves, Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia
Clean Sheets: 288
Andoni Zubizarreta was the no-nonsense goalkeeper, the Mr. Reliable. A player you could always count on to gobble up chances, without a fuss, without a show. He rarely made errors, he rarely ever deviated from his calm, collected self. He participated in 7 major international tournaments for Spain, won 6 La Ligas, 1 Champions League, and has the record for most La Liga clean sheets at 235. Zubi has a well deserved place here.
- Edwin Van Der Sar
DOB: 29/10/1970- (51)
Playing Years: 1990-2011
Clubs: Ajax, Juventus, Fulham, Man Utd
Clean Sheets: 368
Van der Sar was a Sweeper Keeper without being a Sweeper Keeper. He loved to come off his line for crosses, corners, and free kicks. He was very good at this skill, deserving his nickname “Edwin Crazy”. He is also an anti-Tottenham, with his career being riddled with trophies. Also Participating in 7 major tournaments with the Netherlands, he’s won 22 trophies in his career, 2 Champions Leagues, 8 League Titles, 12 Domestic Trophies, and 2 Worldwide Cups. His claim to this list is endless.
- Dino Zoff
DOB: 28/2/1942- (79)
Playing Years: 1961-83
Clubs: Udinese, Mantova, Napoli, Juventus
Clean Sheets: 384
The Clean Sheets tallies for all of these players are slowly increasing. He, like Zubi, was a keeper who preferred effectiveness over fambuoyance. He was also the first player on this list to win international trophies, winning a World Cup and Euros with Italy in 6 combined appearances. He won 6 Italian titles with Juve, and 1 UEFA Cup. Not as trophy riddled, but being one of the few to ever win a World Cup, that must stand for something.
- Oliver Kahn
DOB: 15/6/1969- (52)
Playing Years: 1987-2008
Clubs: Karlsruher, Bayern
Clean Sheets: 293
“King Kahn” is the villain this list needs. He was on the bad list of many throughout his career, a Goalkeeper Sergio Ramos of sorts. He was described by the Bayern Munich website as “Impatient, Disciplined, Ambitious”. That suits him perfectly and is all you need to know about how the German played. He won 1 Euro Tournament with Germany, played in 3 total, and played in 4 World Cups. He won 1 Champions League, 8 Bundesliga Titles, 6 DFB Pokals, and 6 German League Cups. A truly decorated player.
- Peter Schmeichel
DOB: 18/11/1963- (58)
Playing Years: 1981-2003
Clubs: Gladsaxe-Hero, Hvidovre, Brondby, Man Utd, Sporting, Aston Villa, Man City
Clean Sheets: 220
What??? 6th?? Am I crazy????? No. I think that Peter Schmeichel is a great Goalkeeper, but not top 3. He had just 8 good years with United, I know that’s great, but compare that to Goalkeepers who came before and will come after him here, and you will see that they have much more prime years. His patented “Star Jump” got him fame, and he may have a Champions League, 5 Premier League titles, a win at Euro 92, and 3 FA Cups, but compare him to others below him, like Dino Zoff who has 75% more clean sheets than him, and He isn’t any more special than them.
- Gordon Banks
DOB: 30/12/1937-12/2/2019 (81)
Playing Years: 1958-1978
Clubs: Chesterfield, Leicester City, Stoke City, Cleveland Stokers, Hellenic, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, St. Pats Athletic
Clean Sheets: N.A.
Unfortunately, we don’t know his exact number of Clean sheets as he played so long ago, but we can say that Gordon Banks got a huge number of them. The entire reason he is this high up is The Save. “Pele! What a save! Gosh Dangit” is the legendary commentary by the late great Hugh Johns. He is synonymous with England. He was the keeper who got England to World Cup glory in ‘66 and made the great save in ‘70. Despite not winning much at club level, he didn’t need to. Gordon Banks is legendary.
- Manuel Neuer
DOB: 27/3/1985- (35)
Playing Years: 2004-
Clubs: Schalke 04, Bayern
Clean Sheets: 332
The first currently active player on this list, Manuel Neuer already has 332 clean sheets and is still going string for Bayern. He is the definition of a sweeper keeper, even if it’s been to his demise on a few occasions (South Korea vs Germany 2018, I’m looking at you). He has revolutionised the world of Goalkeeping and must be remembered as one of the best. His trophy collection is also endless. A world cup, 9 Bundesliga Titles, 6 DFB Pokals, 2 Champions Leagues, and counting! He is truly legendary.
- Gianluigi Buffon
DOB: 28/1/1978 (43)
Playing Years: 1995-
Clubs: Parma, Juventus, PSG
Clean Sheets: 422
But Buffon is more legendary. A stunning 422 clean sheets, about to turn 44, a playing career that so far has lasted 27 years, Gigi Buffon should in no way still be playing at this level. Sure, it is Serie B, but it’s still super high for his age. He’s won a World Cup, 10 Scudettos, 6 Italian Cups, 7 Italian Super Cups, 1 Ligue 1, 1 UEFA Cup, and a staggering 9 appearances in major tournaments, and it would have been 10 if Italy qualified for the 2018 World Cup. He will forever be remembered as amazing.
- Iker Casillas
DOB: 20/5/1981 (41)
Playing Years: 1998-2020
Clubs: Real Madrid, Porto
Clean Sheets: 338
Iker Casillas is just amazing. Despite having 90 clean sheets lesss than Buffon, he was much, much more successful. 3 Major international trophies including 1 world cup, 3 Champions Leagues, including being the starter in the La Decima year, 5 La Ligas, 2 Copa Del Reys, and 1 Liga NOS title. You will NEVER see a Goalkeeper with a better trophy cabinet.
- Lev Yashin
DOB: 22/10/1929-20/3/1990 (60)
Playing Years: 1950-70
Clubs: Dynamo Moscow
Clean Sheets: N.A.
The Black Cat was rumored to have saved over 100 Penalties, but much like Pele keeping in Brazil his whole career, sadly we’ll never know how Yashin would have got on at some of the best teams in the world in Western Europe. However, we do know that he would have been pretty darn good. He is known as the only keeper ever to win the Ballon D’Or, He also led the Soviet Union to it’s only Euro win in Euro 60, he won 5 Soviet League Titles with Dynamo Moscow, and won Olympic Gold with the Soviet Union. He will always be my #1, and it will take a special kind of player to take his place.
That’s it, that’s all. I hope you liked this post style, because we are going to have more in the future. A lot more. That was my list on the top 10 GKs in history, if you have a different list put it in the comments, and Until Next Time.