The Golden Glove is the FIFA World Cup’s award for the tournament’s outstanding goalkeeper, selected by FIFA’s Technical Study Group based on performances across the competition.
With World Cup winner betting markets reflecting how central a world-class goalkeeper is to any serious title challenge, the award has been won by some of the greatest shot-stoppers the sport has produced.
Originally known as the Lev Yashin Award, named in honour of the legendary Soviet goalkeeper widely regarded as the finest of all time, it was renamed the Golden Glove at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Here is the full list of winners.
Michel Preud’homme: 1994
The inaugural winner of the award, Preud’homme kept two clean sheets in four appearances for Belgium in the United States, conceding just four goals throughout. Belgium were eliminated in the round of 16, making him the earliest-eliminated goalkeeper ever to win the award. His reflexes and consistency were nonetheless impossible to ignore, and his selection remains one of the more striking in the award’s history.
Fabien Barthez: 1998
France’s World Cup triumph on home soil was built on a defensive structure that conceded just twice in seven matches, and Barthez was at the heart of it. Five clean sheets across the tournament, including a shutout in the final against Brazil, earned him the award and confirmed his status as the finest goalkeeper in the world at the time. He remains one of only five Golden Glove winners to have lifted the trophy in the same tournament.
Oliver Kahn: 2002
The most remarkable entry on this list. Kahn kept five clean sheets for Germany as they reached the final in South Korea and Japan, conceding just three goals before the showpiece against Brazil. He is the only goalkeeper in World Cup history to win both the Golden Glove and the Golden Ball in the same tournament, an extraordinary distinction for a player whose intensity and shot-stopping were the defining features of Germany’s run. He conceded a goal in the final, but his tournament overall was exceptional.
Gianluigi Buffon: 2006
Italy won the 2006 World Cup in Germany conceding just two goals in open play throughout, and Buffon kept five clean sheets across seven matches. His penalty shootout save against France in the final was the defining moment of his tournament, and his overall composure and command across the competition gave Italy the foundation for their fourth world title. He was already regarded as the finest goalkeeper of his generation by this point, and 2006 confirmed it.
Iker Casillas: 2010
The first winner of the newly renamed Golden Glove, and one of the most deserving. Casillas kept five clean sheets as Spain won the World Cup in South Africa, conceding just two goals throughout the entire tournament. His save from Arjen Robben in the final at Soccer City Stadium, diving to his right to deny a one-on-one, is one of the defining moments in World Cup final history. Today match odds football markets rarely see a team as defensively dominant as Spain were in 2010, and Casillas was the immovable foundation of it all.
Manuel Neuer: 2014
Neuer’s 2014 World Cup was as much about what he did outside his penalty area as in it. His sweeper-keeper style, pressing high to intercept through balls and acting almost as an additional outfield player, was unlike anything the tournament had seen before. Four clean sheets, including in the final against Argentina, and a 7-1 semi-final demolition of Brazil in which he barely touched the ball, reflected a goalkeeper performing behind a team of historic quality. He redefined the position at a World Cup.
Thibaut Courtois: 2018
Belgium finished third in Russia, but Courtois was the outstanding individual goalkeeper of the tournament. Three clean sheets and a series of extraordinary saves, most memorably against Brazil in the quarter-finals, gave him the award ahead of goalkeepers whose nations progressed further. His performance in the quarter-final against Brazil, making nine saves including a stunning stop from Neymar’s low drive, is regarded as one of the great individual World Cup goalkeeping displays.
Emiliano Martinez: 2022
The defending champion and the most psychologically dominant goalkeeper of the modern era. Martinez kept three clean sheets across Argentina’s seven matches in Qatar, but his contribution went far beyond statistics. His penalty shootout heroics against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, saving two spot kicks, and against France in the final, where he saved Kingsley Coman’s penalty and unsettled Aurelien Tchouameni into missing, were match-defining moments. He won The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper award for the second consecutive year. In 2026, he is the man to beat.
