The World Cup trophy itself isn’t enough. We also have to celebrate individual success at various different levels whether it be the selection of an All-Star team or a Golden Boot award for the top scorer.
One of the often lesser talked about individual honors is the Golden Glove, which is awarded to the “best goalkeeper”. Here we look at the history of the award and who we fancy being in the running to win the Golden Glove at Qatar 2022?
The history of the Golden Glove
Unlike the Golden Boot award, the Golden Glove honour was only fairly recently introduced. It was first awarded in 1994 under the title of the Lev Yashin award; it was named in honour of Yashin, who is amongst the best goalkeepers of all time. Belgium’s Michel Preud’homme scooped the inaugural award but more notable names such as Fabian Barthez, Oliver Kahn and Gigi Buffon followed. Ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the title was changed to the Golden Glove. Three tournaments later and the awards have gone to Iker Casillas, Manuel Neuer and Thibaut Courtois. That means whoever wins this years award will be in some seriously impressive company!
So, who will win the Golden Glove at Qatar 2022?
Thibaut Courtois, Belgium
If anybody held any doubts about just how good Thibaut Courtois is between the sticks then those concerns were rebuffed in spectacular fashion with his man of the match performance in the Champions League final. He was phenomenal in that match twice denying Mo Salah in almost hard to believe style. Followers of Real Madrid, however, will know that it was far from a one off with his form throughout the season excellent behind a backline that does give up chances.
With Belgium, the team has enough quality to potentially go deep in Qatar but defensively, they’re getting on a bit. That means Courtois will be left exposed from time to time. If he can stand up to that, he has every chance of being in the Golden Glove conversation.
Manuel Neuer, Germany
We’ve already mentioned Neuer when discussing past winners of the Golden Glove and it is highly likely that the German sweeper-keeper is at least in the running for the award this time round too. Germany are playing some neat football under Hansi Flick; not only could that see them compete in the World Cup’s latter stages but it is also a style of football that suits Neuer. He is excellent with the ball at his feet but his ability to clean up behind a high defensive line is top drawer as well.
Neuer isn’t all about his feet though. He is also strong at dealing with crosses whilst his reflexes make shot stopping look easy and Neuer is a keeper that has the knack of spreading himself well making it tough to beat him in one-on-one scenarios. If Germany have a successful tournament, Neuer will have played a big role.
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Ederson, Brazil
Brazil are a fortunate nation. According to this online sportsbook, they are the current favorites to win the World Cup in November and that is no surprise.
Not only do they possess some ridiculous talents outfield but, in goal, they’ve unquestionably got the strongest one, two in global football. Alisson, who plays for Liverpool, is one but Ederson is the likely candidate to get the nod at Qatar – as he did in their Copa America final defeat to Argentina last year. Ederson has long been established as Man City’s number one keeper. Like Neuer, Ederson’s ability with his feet is nearly as impressive as his actual goalkeeping.
Just how good this Brazilian duo are can be explained very easily. The English Premier League is widely considered to be the best league in the world. For the past four seasons, one of these two keepers have won the Premier League golden glove award; this latest campaign saw the duo share the award meaning that Ederson has now won it three times on the spin. Given Brazil enter the World Cup as favourites, anything close to a final appearance will give their starting keeper an excellent chance of scooping the award.
We feel like we’ve covered the most likely keepers to win the Golden Glove award at Qatar 2022. That said, there are plenty of other top keepers who will be on show. Emi Martinez of Argentina is arguably the ‘best of the rest’. He won the equivalent award at last year’s Copa America. Diogo Costa, who plays in goal for Portugal, is another one to keep an eye on.
The 22-year-old impressed for Porto this season keeping 15 Liga NOS clean sheets and conceding just 22 goals from 33 league appearances. Finally, we have England’s, Jordan Pickford. England went to the semi-finals at Russia 2018 and he’s a nailed-on starter for Gareth Southgate’s men in Qatar.
