Top Goalkeepers of the Year: FC 100 Rankings
What turns a good goalkeeper into a world-class one? Reflexes, yes. Shot-stopping, of course. But at the elite level, the job description has expanded. They must sweep, pass, command, and anticipate. They’re the first attacker, the last defender, and the calmest head in the storm.
These 10 have done all of that under the brightest lights over the past year. They don’t always crave headlines, but they’ve earned their place in the FC 100.
10. Matvey SAFONOV, Paris Saint-Germain/Russia, 27
Safonov is built for the moment nobody really wants: the penalty shootout. Four saves from five spot kicks against Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup, dragging PSG to the trophy almost by himself, is the stuff of folklore.
He started last season as the afterthought. Gianluigi Donnarumma had gone, Lucas Chevalier had arrived for €50 million and was widely regarded as the best keeper in Ligue 1. Safonov opened the campaign on the bench. He ended it as PSG’s No. 1, with eight shutouts in 15 league games — a 53.3% clean-sheet rate, the best in Ligue 1 among keepers with at least 15 games.
He didn’t dazzle with outrageous saves or laser-guided passing. He simply did everything Luis Enrique asked of him. Liverpool, Munich, Chelsea in the Champions League knockout rounds: no drama, no big errors, just reliability on the biggest nights as PSG defended their European crown.
Now comes the cold edge of elite sport. PSG are already eyeing more competition in goal. His status is under threat again. Safonov has been doubted before; he’ll see this as just another challenge to knock down.
9. Jordan PICKFORD, Everton/England, 32
At Goodison, Jordan Pickford is not just a goalkeeper. He’s a cult figure. The terrace chant calls him “dynamite,” and he has lived up to it.
Last season he played every Premier League game for David Moyes’ side, keeping 11 clean sheets — tied for third in the division behind David Raya and Donnarumma. Everton flirted with European qualification, and while the campaign fizzled late, Pickford’s acrobatic saves kept them in the race longer than they had any right to be.
On the international stage, he remains England’s first choice. He started all but one of their World Cup matches, and while the microscope never leaves him, his performance in the 3-2 win over Mexico at the Azteca — a cauldron by any standard — underlined why managers keep trusting him.
He’s locked in at Everton until at least 2029. The targets are clear: drag the club into Europe, go deep in a cup, and keep that England shirt out of everyone else’s hands.
8. Diogo COSTA, FC Porto/Portugal, 26
Diogo Costa looks like a goalkeeper on a runway to something bigger. Efficient, ice-cool and smart, he’s become one of Europe’s most complete “sweeper keepers.”
Porto first promoted him in 2019, but his real rise began in 2021 when he took over from the injured Agustin Marchesin. Since then, he has barely missed a minute. Last season he posted more than 20 clean sheets in the Primeira Liga, the first to hit that mark in Portugal since 2022-23, and finished with a 79.7% save rate and just 0.46 goals conceded per 90 minutes as Porto won yet another title.
Costa’s game is built on reading situations early. With his feet or with a throw, he can slice through a press and launch attacks from deep. His pure shot-stopping has hovered around 70% over his career, but that number is climbing, and at 26 going on 27, he hasn’t even reached his supposed peak.
He was part of Portugal’s run to the World Cup round of 16, where they fell to Spain. Now he waits. Chelsea have watched him. Manchester United have been linked in previous windows. Porto will demand a huge fee. Until someone pays it, he’ll go again in the Champions League, looking more and more like the next big move waiting to happen.
7. ALISSON, Liverpool/Brazil, 33
This is what a club legend looks like when the body starts to fight back but the class refuses to fade.
Alisson’s 2025-26 season was stop-start. Muscle problems kept him out for stretches, and Liverpool as a whole were far from their best. Yet when he did play, the old certainty returned. He still dominates one-on-ones like almost nobody else, still fills the goal with that 6-foot-4 frame and that uncanny sense of where the shot will go.
Brazil know it. He kept the No. 1 shirt at the World Cup, adding two more clean sheets to take his career total in the tournament to seven — the third-highest by a Brazilian keeper in the past six decades.
Juventus sniffed around, and there was talk of a summer move. Liverpool shut that down. They want him for the final year of his contract. If this is to be Alisson’s last season at Anfield, he’ll aim to leave the way he arrived: as a difference-maker in the biggest games.
6. Emiliano MARTÍNEZ, Aston Villa/Argentina, 33
Some goalkeepers keep you safe. Emiliano Martínez changes the temperature of a match.
He thrives on the edge. For Aston Villa, he was central to a historic season: fourth in the Premier League, a place in next year’s Champions League, and a Europa League title capped by a 3-0 win over Freiburg. He kept a clean sheet in that final despite breaking a finger in the warmup. Of course he did.
The season was pure Martínez: outrageous saves, a few wild errors, and one pass in the buildup to a goal against Lille so audacious that his teammates celebrated with him rather than the scorer, John McGinn. Then came the World Cup. With a fractured digit still an issue, he dragged Argentina to the final and made 11 saves in that showpiece — the most in a final in the past 60 years, and tied for the second most in any knockout game in that period.
On a night when Lionel Messi played, it was the goalkeeper who stole the stage. That says everything.
Juventus’ interest has cooled, so all signs point to another season of Martínez in claret and blue, now on the Champions League stage. Nobody will be bored.
5. Joan GARCÍA, Barcelona/Spain, 25
Crossing Barcelona’s city divide is never simple. Joan García did it and instantly made Barça better.
Signed from Espanyol for €25 million, he walked into a club demanding perfection and delivered one of the best goalkeeping seasons in Europe. Across the Big Five leagues, no keeper with 30 or more games conceded fewer goals than García’s 21. In LaLiga, he kept 15 clean sheets in 30 matches and posted a league-best goals prevented figure of 10.72, ahead of Getafe’s David Soria.
Barça’s high line leaves their keeper exposed. García handled it. Twice against Rayo Vallecano and away at Espanyol, he saved points almost single-handedly. His astonishing stop from Pere Milla at his old ground earned LaLiga’s Save of the Season. The contrast was stark: in eight games with Wojciech Szczęsny, Barça shipped 15 goals.
His impact has been brutal for the competition. Marc-André ter Stegen has gone to Ajax on loan to find minutes. García’s next hurdle is Europe, where he has been solid but not yet spectacular. And then there’s Spain. With Unai Simón fresh from delivering a second World Cup for La Roja, García will have to be patient and relentless if he wants that national-team jersey.
4. Unai SIMÓN, Athletic Club/Spain, 29
On club form alone, Unai Simón wouldn’t be this high. On international legacy, he has to be.
For Athletic Club last season, he was ordinary by his own standards. For Spain, he was extraordinary. Eight World Cup games, one goal conceded, a Golden Glove, and a record: 649 consecutive minutes without letting in a goal at the tournament, smashing Walter Zenga’s 1990 mark of 517.
Spain’s possession game and defensive structure protected him, but when the wall cracked, he was there — especially in the semifinal against France, when three late saves preserved their path to the title. Luis de la Fuente ignored the calls to turn to David Raya or Joan García and stuck with Simón. The coach’s faith in his leadership and composure under pressure was rewarded with a second major trophy in two years after Euro 2024.
He now sits among Spain’s great keepers, even if others might be more spectacular week to week in LaLiga.
Back at Athletic, the task is simpler: improve on a disappointing 12th-place finish under new coach Edin Terzic, without the distraction of European football after last season’s bruising Champions League campaign. With Spain, the battle restarts. Nations League games against England loom, and De la Fuente must decide whether to ride with his trusted No. 1 or usher in a new era.
3. Gianluigi DONNARUMMA, Manchester City/Italy, 27
Few goalkeepers look as physically overwhelming as Gianluigi Donnarumma. At Manchester City, he reminded everyone that for pure shot-stopping, he’s still near the top of the food chain.
After helping PSG win the Champions League in 2025, he was abruptly deemed expendable in Paris. City swooped, and in his first Premier League season he won the internal duel with James Trafford, locking down the starting role. The numbers backed him up: 15 clean sheets in 34 league games, a 44% shutout rate — his best in a league campaign and second only to David Raya in the division.
The doubts haven’t vanished. His distribution under pressure remains the main question mark in a team that demands bravery with the ball. But when City needed saves in Pep Guardiola’s farewell title push, Donnarumma produced them.
Now Guardiola has gone and Enzo Maresca is in. Donnarumma must convince a new manager all over again, while carrying the frustration of another summer without a World Cup for Italy. Three straight tournaments missed. For a keeper of his calibre, the hunger for international redemption will only sharpen.
2. Thibaut COURTOIS, Real Madrid/Belgium, 34
Thibaut Courtois towers over almost every forward he faces, and he still plays like a man who expects to win every duel.
Real Madrid’s league season was underwhelming, Barcelona pulling away at the top, but Courtois remained a pillar. In 32 LaLiga games he conceded just 28 goals — an average of 0.88 per match, second only to Joan García. His 13 clean sheets also trailed only the Barcelona keeper.
In the Champions League, he was just as sharp. An 81.5% save percentage carried Madrid to the quarterfinals, bettered only by David Raya in the competition. Then came the World Cup, his first major tournament since 2022. Belgium reached the quarterfinals and were level at 1-1 with eventual champions Spain when Courtois was injured. Replacement Senne Lammens made the decisive error, and Belgium went out. It was impossible not to wonder how different the story would have been with Courtois still on the pitch.
Now Madrid turn to a new era under José Mourinho. Courtois has long wanted more defensive structure, more discipline, more work on the training ground. Mourinho promises exactly that, backed by heavy investment in the back line.
With Belgium, his stance is different. After the World Cup he spoke openly about wanting a quieter year, even floating the idea of skipping the Nations League to stay in Madrid. If the federation accepts, he’ll extend his international career on his own terms.
1. David RAYA, Arsenal/Spain, 30
Three years ago, David Raya arrived at Arsenal amid an argument: was he really an upgrade on Aaron Ramsdale? That debate feels ancient now.
Raya has become the prototype Premier League goalkeeper: aggressive, brave under the high ball, and ruthless in the basics. Last season he was the backbone of Arsenal’s title-winning side, keeping 19 clean sheets in the league — four more than any other keeper — and 32 in all competitions. Over the past three Premier League seasons, he has racked up 48 shutouts, 12 more than anyone else.
He collected a third straight Golden Glove as Arsenal won the 2025-26 Premier League and reached the Champions League final, where they fell just short. You could make a serious case that no goalkeeper on the planet is performing at a higher level right now.
Yet on the international stage, he watched Spain’s World Cup triumph from the bench. Luis de la Fuente trusted Unai Simón, and Raya didn’t play a minute.
Back in North London, his role is clear. Arsenal’s success has been built on being hard to break down rather than relentlessly free-scoring. Whether Mikel Arteta loosens the reins in attack this season or not, Raya’s presence gives them a foundation to defend their title — and maybe go one better in Europe.
For now, he stands at the summit of the FC 100’s goalkeepers. The question is no longer whether he’s better than his predecessor. It’s whether anyone, anywhere, can knock him off this perch.
