Top Goalkeepers Who Became World-Class

What turns a good goalkeeper into a world-class one? Shot-stopping still sits at the top of the job description, but that’s no longer enough. Modern No. 1s have to sprint, pass, think, and lead. They must play with their feet, command with their voice and, above all, occupy the right spot at the right second, over and over again.

When trophies are on the line, the player in gloves can drag a team to glory or leave them staring at the turf in disbelief. The 10 names below didn’t just survive that pressure over the past year. They owned it. That’s why they sit in the FC 100.

(All stats via ESPN Research; ages and clubs as of Aug. 18.)

10. Matvey SAFONOV, Paris Saint-Germain/Russia, 27

He’s not the flashiest. He is ruthless when it matters.

Safonov’s defining moment came from 12 yards. Four saves from five penalties against Flamengo, dragging PSG to the Intercontinental Cup. That’s not just a shootout; that’s a keeper taking a trophy by the throat.

He arrived in Paris as a question mark after Gianluigi Donnarumma left. PSG then spent €50 million on Lucas Chevalier, the best keeper in Ligue 1 at the time, and still started the season with Safonov on the bench. He turned that into fuel.

Eight shutouts in 15 league games – a 53.3% clean-sheet rate, the best in Ligue 1 among keepers with at least 15 matches. In Liverpool, in Munich, at Chelsea in the Champions League knockout rounds, he simply did his job: solid, no drama, no big errors.

He will never be the game’s most spectacular shot-stopper or its most elegant distributor, but he grew into PSG’s No. 1 and delivered in a season when the margin for error was tiny.

Next? The brutal part. PSG are already looking at more goalkeepers. His status is under threat again. He’s been doubted before. He knows exactly how to answer.

9. Jordan PICKFORD, Everton/England, 32

At Goodison Park, they sing that Jordan Pickford is “dynamite.” It fits.

Since joining from Sunderland in 2017, he has become Everton’s heartbeat at the back and England’s entrenched No. 1. Last season he played every Premier League game under David Moyes, keeping 11 clean sheets – tied for third-most in the division, behind only David Raya and Donnarumma.

Everton flirted with European qualification thanks in no small part to his spectacular saves. The campaign faded, but Pickford’s level didn’t. On the international stage, he started all but one of England’s World Cup matches. The criticism came, as it always does, but his performance in the 3-2 win over Mexico at the Azteca – hostile, suffocating, unforgiving – showed exactly why managers keep trusting him.

He’s now tied to Everton until at least 2029. The targets are clear: drag the club back into Europe, go deep in a cup, and keep hold of the England shirt with another major tournament cycle looming.

8. Diogo COSTA, FC Porto/Portugal, 26

Diogo Costa has outgrown the label of “one to watch.” He’s now the one everyone is waiting to see move.

He first surfaced in Porto’s senior squad in 2019, but it was 2021 – when he took over from the injured Agustin Marchesin – that he properly announced himself. Since then, his trajectory has pointed only one way.

Costa is one of the sharpest “sweeper keepers” in the game. He steps high, reads play early and starts attacks with a throw or a pass that breaks the press in a single movement. His distribution is a weapon, not a side note.

The numbers underline his rise. In 2025-26 he posted a 79.7% save percentage and conceded just 0.46 goals per 90 minutes as Porto won yet another Primeira Liga title. He became the first keeper since 2022-23 to reach 20-plus league shutouts in Portugal. His career shot-stopping rate has hovered around 70%, leaving some room to sharpen, but the trend is relentless improvement.

He went to the World Cup as Portugal’s No. 1, exiting in the round of 16 to Spain, yet came back and produced his best club season so far. Turning 27 next month, he hasn’t even hit traditional peak years for a goalkeeper.

Chelsea have circled, Manchester United have been linked in previous windows, but Porto will demand a huge fee. Until someone actually makes that move, Costa will lead them back into the Champions League for the first time since 2023-24.

7. ALISSON, Liverpool/Brazil, 33

The injuries have started to nibble away at his seasons. The aura hasn’t.

Alisson’s 2025-26 campaign with Liverpool was far from his most dominant, disrupted by muscle problems and spells on the sideline. Yet when he played, the old authority returned. At 33, he remains one of the best one-on-one goalkeepers on the planet.

His 6-foot-4 frame, his timing, his positioning – they all combine to make strikers hesitate for a fraction too long. That’s all he needs. Brazil know it, which is why he kept the No. 1 shirt at the 2026 World Cup, adding two more clean sheets to reach seven in the tournament across his career. Only two Brazilian keepers in the past 60 years have more.

Juventus sniffed around a possible summer move, but Liverpool stood firm, determined to keep him for the final year of his contract. If this is the last chapter of Alisson at Anfield, he will want it to close with something tangible in his hands.

6. Emiliano MARTÍNEZ, Aston Villa/Argentina, 33

Some goalkeepers keep you calm. Emiliano Martínez does the opposite. He turns games into events.

The Aston Villa and Argentina No. 1 has that rare X factor: the ability, and the personality, to decide matches by himself. Last season he helped Villa to a stunning fourth-place finish in the Premier League and a Europa League title. He kept a clean sheet in the 3-0 final win over Freiburg despite breaking a finger in the warmup. He simply played anyway.

His year was a highlight reel of outrageous stops and a handful of wild mistakes. One pass in the buildup to a goal against Lille was so outrageous that his teammates celebrated with him instead of the scorer, John McGinn. That sums him up: he is always at the centre of the story.

He carried that drama into the 2026 World Cup. Argentina reached the final, and Martínez made 11 saves – the most in a World Cup final in the past 60 years – and 10 of them came in a desperate effort to keep Spain out. He lost the trophy, but stole the show.

What kind of goalkeeper outshines Lionel Messi in a World Cup final? This one.

Juventus’ interest has cooled, so the next act looks set to be with Villa in the Champions League. Few keepers are built more for that stage.

5. Joan GARCÍA, Barcelona/Spain, 25

Crossing the city from Espanyol to Barcelona is never simple. Joan García made it look like a masterstroke.

Barça paid €25 million last summer and were repaid with one of the standout seasons by any goalkeeper in Europe. García conceded just 21 goals in 30 LaLiga matches – the fewest in any of Europe’s Big Five leagues among keepers with 30-plus games – and kept 15 clean sheets. Hansi Flick’s side didn’t just get a new No. 1; they got a safety net for their high-wire act.

Barcelona’s high defensive line leaves their keeper exposed. García handled it. He finished the season with a league-best goals prevented (GPrv) figure of 10.72, ahead of Getafe’s David Soria on 9.03. In the eight league games Wojciech Szczęsny played, Barça conceded 15 times. The contrast was brutal.

His shot-stopping swung results almost on its own. Twice against Rayo Vallecano, and especially away at Espanyol, he rescued points. His save from Pere Milla in that derby won LaLiga’s Save of the Season.

He has already forced Marc-André ter Stegen out on loan to Ajax for 2026-27. The next challenge is to translate his domestic dominance into the Champions League and to push Unai Simón for Spain’s gloves. After Simón delivered a World Cup, that fight will be fierce, but García looks built for it.

4. Unai SIMÓN, Athletic Club/Spain, 29

On club form alone, Unai Simón might not be here. On international legacy, he absolutely has to be.

Athletic Club’s 12th-place finish in LaLiga and Simón’s own “average” season would normally drag a keeper down this kind of ranking. Then came the World Cup. Eight games, one goal conceded, a Golden Glove, and a winner’s medal.

Spain’s structure helped, of course. They dominated the ball, controlled territory, and protected him well. But when the moments came, Simón stood tall – none more so than in the semifinal against France, when he made three late saves to shut the door.

Luis de la Fuente’s decision to stick with him, leaving out David Raya and Joan García, looked risky before the tournament. It looks inspired now. Simón has added a World Cup to the European Championship he won two years earlier. Whatever the debates about who is Spain’s most talented keeper right now, his place in the national-team history books is secure.

Now he has to lift a stumbling Athletic under new coach Edin Terzic after last season’s Champions League campaign ended with a 29th-place finish in the league phase and some heavy defeats. No European football this time might help.

For Spain, the fight restarts immediately. The Nations League opens against England in September. Does De la Fuente stick with the man who just won him everything, or hand the future to Raya or García?

3. Gianluigi DONNARUMMA, Manchester City/Italy, 27

Few goalkeepers look as imposing as Gianluigi Donnarumma. At Manchester City, he started to match that presence with numbers again.

After backstopping PSG to the 2025 Champions League title, he was still told he was surplus to requirements. City pounced. In his first Premier League season he beat out James Trafford for the No. 1 spot and delivered a shutout in 15 of his 34 league games – a 44% clean-sheet rate, the best of his career and second only to David Raya in England last term among keepers with more than one appearance.

The old question lingers: is he good enough with the ball at his feet for a possession-heavy side? There were shaky moments, but he repeatedly bailed City out with spectacular saves as they pushed for one last title under Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola has gone. Enzo Maresca has arrived. Donnarumma’s next task is to prove he’s not just Pep’s stopgap but the long-term first choice. On the international stage, the hunger is obvious. Italy missed a third straight World Cup this summer. For a 27-year-old already carrying the weight of a nation’s goalkeeping heritage, that’s a wound that won’t heal quickly.

2. Thibaut COURTOIS, Real Madrid/Belgium, 34

Real Madrid fell short in LaLiga. Thibaut Courtois did not.

At 6-foot-7, he already looks like a wall. The numbers back it up. He conceded 28 goals in 32 league games last season – a 0.88 goals-against average, second only to Joan García – and kept 13 clean sheets, again bettered only by the Barcelona man.

In the Champions League, his 81.5% save percentage ranked behind only David Raya as Madrid reached the quarterfinals. He did his part; the team around him did not always match it.

With Belgium, his World Cup ended in frustration. He helped them to the quarterfinals, then suffered an injury at 1-1 against Spain. Replacement Senne Lammens made the mistake that sent them home. It was impossible not to wonder how that game ends if Courtois stays on.

Now Madrid are entering the José Mourinho era. Courtois has long wanted more defensive structure and discipline in front of him. Mourinho’s arrival, plus heavy investment in the back line, should give him exactly that as Madrid chase back LaLiga.

With Belgium, he wants something else: a breather. After the World Cup he admitted he’d like to skip the Nations League and stay in Madrid, if the federation agrees. Even the giants need a quieter year.

1. David RAYA, Arsenal/Spain, 30

Three years ago, people argued whether David Raya was even an upgrade on Aaron Ramsdale. Now he has a case as the best goalkeeper in the world.

Raya was central to Arsenal’s 2025-26 Premier League title and their run to the Champions League final. He took home a third straight Golden Glove, recording 19 clean sheets in the league – four more than any rival – and 48 shutouts over the past three Premier League seasons, 12 more than any other keeper.

Arsenal’s defensive record was brutal: 32 clean sheets in all competitions. Raya sat at the heart of it, dominating his box, absorbing the Premier League’s physical chaos and still making the reflex saves that separate champions from nearly-men.

Yet, on the international stage, he watched. Spain’s World Cup triumph came with Unai Simón in goal, not Raya. For a keeper with his numbers, that’s a strange twist: possibly the world’s best, but not his country’s starter.

The next chapter at Arsenal will be fascinating. Last season’s success was built more on solidity than on free-flowing attacking football. Whether Mikel Arteta loosens the handbrake or not, having Raya behind that back line gives Arsenal a platform to defend their title – and perhaps finally go one step further in Europe.