Jordan Pickford Wins Coca-Cola Save of the Season

Jordan Pickford has been named the 2025/26 Coca-Cola Save of the Season winner for a moment that froze St James’ Park and, in all likelihood, decided a match – and an award – in a single explosive second.

Everton were clinging to a 3-2 lead deep into stoppage time away to Newcastle United. One last ball dropped, one last swing of a boot, and Sandro Tonali caught it as cleanly as technique allows. A ferocious volley, rising, true, destined for the roof of the net and a gutting equaliser.

Then Pickford intervened.

The England No 1 exploded to his right, threw up a strong hand and somehow managed to divert the ball onto the crossbar and away to safety. Not parried into danger. Not half-stopped. Turned from goal to escape route in a fraction of a heartbeat.

It was the kind of save goalkeepers dream about and strikers hate to believe is possible.

The stop had already been recognised as February’s Coca-Cola Save of the Month and now stands as the defining moment of Pickford’s campaign. It was his second Save of the Month of the 2025/26 season and the fourth of his Premier League career – a record haul in the competition.

“It was worthy of a goal,” the Everton manager said. “Tonali couldn't have hit that any better or any sweeter if he tried again. It was technically brilliant, his volley, but I have to say that the save was out of this world.”

David Moyes, watching from the touchline, knew instantly what he had seen.

When a striker of Alan Shearer’s stature calls a stop “world class”, people listen. The Premier League’s all-time leading scorer, with 260 goals to his name, has seen just about every way a goalkeeper can be beaten. This time, he watched one refuse to be.

“It is a brilliant strike from Sandro Tonali, but an unbelievable save,” Shearer said. “The reaction to get that onto the bar was remarkable.”

Inside the Everton camp, the verdict was even more emphatic. Centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, perfectly placed to see the strike and the response, called it “the best save I have ever seen”.

The award did not arrive by default. Pickford’s stop emerged from a shortlist of 10 outstanding saves across the season – nine monthly winners from the Premier League’s Coca-Cola Save of the Month awards and an additional fingertip effort from Tottenham Hotspur’s Antonin Kinsky against Leeds United in May.

The Everton keeper came out on top after a combination of public votes and the judgement of a panel of football experts. He was the only goalkeeper all season to collect two or more Save of the Month awards, underlining not just one headline-grabbing moment but a sustained level of excellence.

Among those he edged out were James Trafford, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Martin Dubravka, David Raya, Alphonse Areola, Aaron Ramsdale, Karl Darlow and Kinsky – a strong field, beaten by one extraordinary reflex.

This is not new territory for Pickford. He now has two Coca-Cola Save of the Season titles, adding this latest success to his triumph in 2021/22, the inaugural year of the award.

Some goalkeepers are remembered for their command of the box, others for their distribution. Pickford, again, is writing his legacy in the split-second moments when everything is on the line and the stadium holds its breath.