Ballon d’Or 2026: Facts and stats about every men’s goalkeeper nominee

The nominees for the 2026 Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year award have produced an impressive collection of individual and team achievements, with the 10-man shortlist featuring World Cup heroes, Champions League winners, and some of the world’s most accomplished goalkeepers.

Across the 2025/26 season, the nominees combined for 154 clean sheets, while three won domestic league titles and five were selected in their respective leagues' Team of the Year.

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Their collective trophy cabinet also includes the Africa Cup of Nations, UEFA Champions League, and AFC Champions League Elite.

Seven of the nominees featured prominently at the 2026 World Cup, recording 16 clean sheets between them, while four progressed to the quarter-finals or beyond.

Here are some of the most interesting facts and statistics about each nominee.

At 35, Yassine Bounou remains one of Africa’s leading goalkeepers and strengthened his reputation with another impressive World Cup campaign.

The Al-Hilal goalkeeper has now faced nine penalties at World Cup tournaments, including shoot-outs, and conceded only twice.

His two clean sheets at the 2026 tournament also took his World Cup total to five, making him the African goalkeeper with the most shut-outs in the competition.

Bounou was also part of the Morocco side that recorded a record-breaking run of 16 consecutive international victories in October 2025.

The 2022 winner returned to the shortlist after another outstanding campaign with Real Madrid.

Courtois kept a clean sheet in 34.2% of his La Liga appearances during the 2025/26 season, while opponents scored against him once every 102 minutes.

The Belgian has also collected numerous individual honors during his 17-year career at the highest level.

Interestingly, football was not always his only sporting ambition. Courtois grew up in a family heavily involved in volleyball, with his sister Valérie becoming a Belgium international in the sport.

Mendy, who finished runner-up for this award in 2021, has experienced a remarkable rise to the highest level of football.

His AFC Champions League Elite triumph with Al-Ahli made him the first goalkeeper to win the premier continental club competition in both Europe and Asia.

During Chelsea’s 2021 Champions League triumph, Mendy saved 32 of the 35 shots on target he faced, producing a 91.4% save percentage, a tournament record.

Unai Simon endured a difficult club season as Athletic Bilbao finished 12th in La Liga, but his performances for Spain at the 2026 World Cup told a very different story.

The goalkeeper went 491 minutes without conceding a goal before Belgium eventually breached his defense in the quarter-final.

Simon, who was runner-up for the award in 2024, has also won the European Championship with Spain.

Gregor Kobel’s performances during Borussia Dortmund’s 2023/24 Champions League run helped establish him as one of Europe’s top goalkeepers.

While his spectacular saves have attracted plenty of attention, the Swiss international's game is also built around anticipation, positioning, and reliability.

Kobel is regarded as a composed goalkeeper who often relies on reading the game rather than simply reacting to shots.

His distribution has also been a strength, highlighted by a perfect passing record during an early international appearance against Serbia.

Joan Garcia earned his first nomination after an impressive campaign with Barcelona, helping the Catalan club secure their 29th La Liga title.

One of his standout moments came against former club Espanyol in January 2026, when he produced a spectacular close-range save that was voted La Liga's Save of the Season.

The goalkeeper had already demonstrated his shot-stopping ability with Espanyol, making a league-high 146 saves during the previous campaign.

Vozinha made history by captaining Cape Verde at their first-ever World Cup.

The 40-year-old goalkeeper produced one of the tournament's memorable individual performances, making seven saves against eventual champions Spain as Cape Verde secured a famous draw.

His performance also turned him into a social media sensation, with his Instagram following reportedly soaring from 50,000 to 25 million within 24 hours.

Matvey Safonov's career has been shaped by patience.

After years of transfer speculation surrounding the Krasnodar goalkeeper, Safonov eventually secured a move to Paris Saint-Germain, initially serving as the club's second-choice goalkeeper behind Gianluigi Donnarumma.

He has since become a Champions League winner and a Ballon d'Or goalkeeper of the year nominee.

Away from football, Safonov has an unusual academic background. He was reportedly a mathematics and chess prodigy as a child and later earned a bachelor's degree while studying pedagogy, psychology, and communication.

David Raya has established himself as one of the Premier League's most consistent goalkeepers since joining Arsenal from Brentford in 2023.

The Spaniard has won the Premier League Golden Glove in each of his first three seasons with Arsenal, playing a major role in the club's defensive strength.

By the end of the 2025/26 campaign, Raya had made 107 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, keeping clean sheets in 44.8% of them.

He had conceded 84 goals during that period, averaging one goal every 114.6 minutes.

Emiliano Martinez's journey to the top took years, with the Argentine spending time on six separate loan spells in England's lower leagues before establishing himself as an elite goalkeeper.

He has since won the Goalkeeper of the Year award twice, in 2023 and 2024, as well as the World Cup Golden Glove and two Copa America Golden Gloves.

His record in international penalty situations has also been remarkable. Martinez has conceded only 11 of the 22 penalties he has faced for Argentina.