Football's 20 greatest goalkeepers of all time

4) Peter Schmeichel

Clubs: Hvidovre, Brondby, Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon, Aston Villa, Manchester City

Country: Denmark

The Great Dane was unquestionably the best goalkeeper in the 1990s and was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United that began an era of dominance in English football. Ferguson bought Schmeichel for a small fee of £505,000 which the Scot later called “bargain of the century”.

Schmeichel was an intimidating figure in goal and his mere presence in goal usually put off the opposition’s attackers. The Dane has a terrific European Championship in 1992, where he inspired underdogs Denmark to win the competition. His save of Marco van Basten’s penalty in the semi-final shootout guided the Danes to their first-ever major international final.

Schmeichel also scored 11 goals in his career, a rather high amount for a goalkeeper.

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3) Gianluigi Buffon

Clubs: Parma, Juventus

Country: Italy

If you have watched Gigi Buffon in action, it’s not very difficult to see why he is nicknamed Superman by the fans. Buffon is known for miraculous moments at the most important of times. Take, for example, his superb one-handed save to keep out Fillipo Inzaghi in the 2003 Champions League final, or the blinder to deny Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup.

The significance of the latter save was such that it not only helped Italy win their fourth World Cup but, in all probability, if he hadn’t made that save, Zidane wouldn’t have ended his career in disgrace. His excellent form in the 2006 World Cup also saw him finish second in the 2006 Ballon d`Or, losing out to teammate Fabio Cannavaro.

Buffon’s transfer from Parma to Juventus in 2001 for €51 million is still a record fee for a goalkeeper.

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2) Gordon Banks

Clubs: Chesterfield, Leicester City, Stoke City, Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Country: England

Gordon Banks played a pivotal role in the 1966 World Cup where he played every single minute in England’s victorious campaign. When you think of Banks, you tend to think of his save against Pele at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Most analysts, commentators, historians, and fans consider it to be the greatest save ever made. Pele and Banks even had a hilarious conversation just after the save:

Pele – “I thought that was a goal.“

Banks – “You and me both.“

Pele – “You’re getting old, Banksy, you used to hold on to them.”

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1) Lev Yashin

Club: Dynamo Moscow

Country: USSR

While making up this list, there were a lot of names that I thought long and hard about and where I’d place them. But that wasn’t the case with Lev Yashin. The moment I started working on the list, I always knew that Yashin was going to be number one.

Simply put, there are two kinds of goalkeepers on this list: there’s Lev Yashin, and then there’s the rest. He had stunning reflexes which helped him save around 150 penalties during his career – a truly astounding stat.

To date, The Black Spider is still the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d`Or. The best goalkeeper in the World Cup is given the Lev Yashin Award, which speaks volumes about the former Soviet keeper’s abilities.