Yashin Nominees at the World Cup: An elite five with the hope of millions in their hands

In 2019, the Ballon d’Or fraternity was enhanced by the introduction of the Yashin Trophy, an award that honours the greatest goalkeepers in that moment.

Named after the magnificent Russian stopper Lev Yashin, it recognises not only the finest exponents of this unique position in football, but also its importance. Without an elite guardian in nets a team is limited, if not deeply flawed.

The inaugural winner of the men’s trophy was Alisson, who will be Brazil’s last line of defence this summer. In 2018/19, the Liverpool keeper won the Premier League Golden Glove and had recently made eight saves in a Champions League final.

A year later, the giant frame of Gianluigi Donnarumma took to the stage to collect his prized accolade. The Italian is also the current recipient of the Yashin Trophy but won’t be at the World Cup after I Nerazzurri surprisingly failed to qualify.

In between Donnarumma’s two individual triumphs Thibaut Courtois claimed the honour in 2022 – the trophy in very safe hands as he made his acceptance speech – before Argentina’s Emi Martinez became the first player to win the award two years running.

An elite denary

Here though we are not focusing on past winners but 2025’s shortlist of ten, a denary of superb goalkeepers who compete at the World Cup rightfully regarded as the very best practitioners of their craft worldwide.

Or rather, half of them will be there, as we will see.

Listed below are their 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings, revealed at last year’s gala.

As stated, Donnarumma will not be present in Canada/USA/Mexico, and neither will Yann Sommer, the 37-year-old Swiss retiring from international football in 2024.

Jan Oblak’s Slovenia did not qualify while Lucas Chevalier and Matz Sels were not selected for their respective squads.

That leaves five of the most recent Yashin Trophy nominees bolstering their teams’ chances on the biggest football stage of them all this summer.

Alisson: Mr Consistency   

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2025/26 season – Liverpool – Premier League & Champions League

Save Percentage: 66.3%. Matches: 32. Minutes played: 2846

As evidenced by his Yashin rankings since joining Liverpool, when the stars align for Álisson Becker he can put together a formidable calendar year of football. In 2019 he topped all of his peers, becoming the inaugural champion. He finished runner-up in 2022 and 2025.

His latest ranking was largely founded on his outstanding consistency in the Premier League, helping Liverpool secure a second title triumph in May of last year. Alisson kept 10 clean sheets as the Reds successfully fended off Man City, Arsenal et al. It was the sixth time he had reached double digits for clean sheets in the English top-flight.

Yet arguably, his highlight of 2025 occurred in Europe. Away to PSG in the Champions League, the Brazilian was immaculate, pulling off nine saves as his team attained a 1-0 win.

In 2025/26 there has undeniably been a dip in such numbers and performances, but persistent hamstring problems partly account for that.

Certainly, a string of excellent displays for Seleção will maintain his standing among the elite.

Thibaut Courtois: Bree-born brilliance

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2025/26 season – Real Madrid – La Liga & Champions League

Save Percentage: 71.4%. Matches: 43. Minutes played: 3825

The towering Belgian is one of the most decorated goalkeepers of any era, winning league titles with four different clubs and garnering two Champions League medals.

The first of these saw him exasperate Liverpool in one of the most eye-catching displays by a keeper in a European final in living memory.

Courtois has additionally won a World Cup Golden Glove, keeping three shutouts for the Red Devils in Russia ’18.

With Belgium placed in a fairly manageable group we should not rule out the 34-year-old adding a second glove to his stuffed cabinet and certainly - given his immense quality and experience - the Bree-born stopper should always be backed to do his country proud. That’s assuming he doesn’t injure himself by walking into a doorframe beforehand.

His wife refers to him as the ‘king of mobile phones’, insisting he repeatedly misses doorways with his eyes glued to the screen.

Yassine Bounou: The roaring lion

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2025/26 season – Al-Hilal – Saudi Pro League & AFC Champions League

Save Percentage: 69.7%. Matches: 31. Minutes played: 2820

After four years of service for Sevilla, the Moroccan headed to the Saudi Pro League, winning a title in his first season with Al Hilal.

Though the ‘Blue Waves’ narrowly missed out on a consecutive league crown in 2025/26, the keeper known to all as ‘Bono’ did keep 14 clean sheets. His ratio of conceding a goal every 117 minutes is impressive at any level.

It’s on the international stage, however, where Bono has truly made his mark, a leading protagonist in Morocco’s deep run to the semi-finals at the last World Cup and a cornerstone of their AFCON triumph at the beginning of 2026.

Last autumn, he broke a long-standing record for the most consecutive international victories, competing in 16 straight wins for the Atlas Lions.

David Raya: The clean-sheet rey

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2025/26 season – Arsenal – Premier League & Champions League

Save Percentage: 69.7%. Matches: 51. Minutes played: 4610

The Spanish international finished joint-sixth in the Yashin rankings last year, due recognition for securing back-to-back Premier League Golden Gloves. Time and again Arsenal’s ultimately doomed title chase was boosted by his remarkable reflexes and dynamic saves.

What now then after 2025/26, a season that feels like the zenith of his footballing journey, one that has taken him to Blackburn as a teenager, then Brentford, before establishing himself as a genuinely world-class talent at the Emirates.

Last season, Raya claimed a third Golden Glove, keeping 19 clean sheets in the league as the Gunners finally ended their title drought. He now has the fourth best goals conceded per match ratio of any goalkeeper to have played at least 100 games in the Premier League.

It almost beggars belief that the 30-year-old – currently at the peak of his considerable powers – may not play a single minute of game-time for La Roja at the World Cup. That’s before we accept that Spain’s confirmed number one, Unai Simon, is also rather good between the sticks.

Emiliano Martinez: The passion and the glory  

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2025/26 season – Aston Villa – Premier League & Europa League

Save Percentage: 71.1%. Matches: 43. Minutes played: 3825

There is a quirky disparity between the Argentine’s club C.V. and his individual and international achievements.

Loaned out numerous times by Arsenal, Martinez excelled briefly at Rotherham and Reading, among others, before Aston Villa took the plunge in 2020.

Since joining the Midlands club his stock his risen ten-fold, now widely regarded as one of the best shot-stoppers in the world and in receipt of consecutive Yashin Trophies to prove it.

In 2022, he added ‘World Cup winner’ to his lengthy list of achievements, his penalty save in the shoot-out against France ensuring Argentina triumphed.

At times, watching him perform, it feels like eight years of frustration at being underappreciated at Arsenal infuses every performance, such is his passion and will-to-win.