Top 10 Goalkeepers of 2026: Who Stands Out?
What turns a good goalkeeper into a world-class one? Reflexes, sure. Shot stopping, of course. But at the elite end of the game in 2026, the job has stretched far beyond simply keeping the ball out. The modern No. 1 must be an athlete, a playmaker, a leader, and a calm brain in the noisiest moments of a season.
These 10 goalkeepers have done all of that and more over the past year. Some are serial winners. Others have kicked the door down to join them. All of them earned their place in the FC 100.
10. Matvey SAFONOV, Paris Saint-Germain/Russia, 27
Safonov is not the most glamorous name on this list, but few goalkeepers alive relish a penalty shootout like he does. Stopping four of five spot kicks to win a trophy sounds like a fantasy. He did it for PSG against Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup.
He arrived in Paris as a question mark, not an answer. Gianluigi Donnarumma had gone, Lucas Chevalier had arrived for €50 million and Safonov started the 2025-26 campaign on the bench. Within months, he had flipped the hierarchy on its head.
Eight shutouts in 15 league games – a 53.3% clean-sheet rate, the best in Ligue 1 among keepers with at least 15 games – told the story of his impact. Through the Champions League knockout rounds in Liverpool, Munich and at Chelsea, he did the simple thing that is so hard at this level: he made no big mistakes.
He will never be the most spectacular shot stopper, nor the slickest passer. What he did do was grow into PSG’s No. 1 and hold his nerve in a season where everything could have unraveled.
Now comes the brutal part. PSG are already scanning the market for another goalkeeper to push him. His status is under threat again. Safonov’s response? He has another chance to prove people wrong.
9. Jordan PICKFORD, Everton/England, 32
At Goodison Park, Jordan Pickford is more than a goalkeeper. He is an anthem, a chant, a symbol. Everton fans call him “dynamite,” and since arriving from Sunderland in 2017, he has lived up to it.
Last season he did not miss a Premier League game for David Moyes’ side. Eleven shutouts put him joint-third in the division, behind only David Raya and Donnarumma. His saves dragged Everton towards a European push that ultimately faded late on, but the tone of their campaign owed plenty to his work.
His summer with England was another test of his durability. He started all but one World Cup match. Some displays drew criticism, but then came Mexico at the Azteca: a 3-2 win, a cauldron of hostility, and a performance that underlined why he is still Gareth Southgate’s first choice.
Pickford has already tied his future to Everton with a contract through at least 2029. The targets are clear: get Everton back into Europe, go deep in a cup, and keep hold of the England shirt.
8. Diogo COSTA, FC Porto/Portugal, 26
Diogo Costa has been on the radar for years. Now he looks ready for the jump everyone has been waiting for.
He first appeared around Porto’s senior squad in 2019, but it was the 2021 takeover from the injured Agustin Marchesin that changed his trajectory. Since then, his rise has been steady, not explosive – the sign of a goalkeeper who builds, season after season.
Costa is one of the sharpest “sweeper keepers” in the game. He reads the play early, steps high, and starts attacks with his feet or his throws. Under pressure, he can pick the pass that breaks the press. That alone makes him a weapon.
The numbers back the eye test. In 2025-26, as Porto won yet another Primeira Liga title, he posted a 79.7% save percentage and conceded just 0.46 goals per 90 minutes. He also became the first goalkeeper since 2022-23 to reach 20-plus shutouts in a Portuguese league season.
His shot-stopping rate has hovered around 70% across his career, so there is still room to sharpen that area. But at 26, turning 27 next month, he has time. His World Cup with Portugal ended in the round of 16 against Spain, yet he left the tournament looking like a goalkeeper on the verge of a big move.
Chelsea have tracked him. Manchester United have been linked repeatedly. For now, no one has met Porto’s demands, and Costa is preparing for another season, this time with Champions League football back on the agenda. It feels like a holding pattern before something bigger.
7. ALISSON, Liverpool/Brazil, 33
Alisson has already secured his place in Liverpool’s history. The question now is how strong his final act will be.
Last season was not his peak. Muscle injuries kept him out for stretches, and Liverpool themselves were below their best. That is why he sits lower on this list than in previous years. But when he plays, his class still jumps off the screen.
At 33, he remains one of the finest one-on-one goalkeepers in the world. His 6-foot-4 frame, his timing, his positioning – they combine to shrink the goal for strikers. Brazil still trust him as their No. 1, and he rewarded that faith with two more World Cup shutouts, taking his career total to seven, the third-most by a Brazilian keeper in the past six decades.
Juventus circled this summer, sensing an opportunity. Liverpool refused to bite. With one year left on his contract, the club want him to stay and anchor one more campaign. If this is to be his farewell season at Anfield, Alisson will want it to look like the earlier chapters, not the injury-hit one he has just endured.
6. Emiliano MARTÍNEZ, Aston Villa/Argentina, 33
Emiliano Martínez is not just a goalkeeper. He is a storyline.
Some keepers fade into the background. Martínez storms into it. He helped Aston Villa to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League and into the Champions League for 2026-27. He also lifted the Europa League, keeping a clean sheet in a 3-0 final win over Freiburg after breaking a finger in the warmup. That is him in a single scene: drama, defiance, and a performance to match.
Across the season he delivered a reel of outrageous saves and a handful of chaotic errors, the kind that make him impossible to ignore. One pass against Lille in the Europa League was so audacious that his teammates celebrated with him rather than the goal scorer, John McGinn.
He carried that energy – and the fractured finger – into the World Cup, where he dragged Argentina to the final and made 11 saves against Spain, the most in a World Cup final in the past 60 years. For long stretches, he held off the eventual champions almost by himself.
How many goalkeepers overshadow Lionel Messi on the biggest stage of all? Martínez did.
Juventus interest has cooled, and all signs point to another season with Villa, this time on Europe’s top table. Few goalkeepers will enjoy the spotlight of the Champions League as much as he will.
5. Joan GARCÍA, Barcelona/Spain, 25
Barcelona needed stability at the back. Joan García gave them that and more.
His €25 million switch from Espanyol to Barça last summer sparked anger across the city, but on the pitch it transformed the champions. He became an instant upgrade, and Hansi Flick’s side leaned heavily on his shot stopping.
The numbers are brutal for opponents. García conceded just 21 goals in 30 league matches, the fewest among goalkeepers with 30-plus games across Europe’s Big Five leagues in 2025-26. He finished with 15 clean sheets and the highest goals prevented (GPrv) figure in LaLiga: 10.72. The next best, Getafe’s David Soria, managed 9.03. In the eight games Wojciech Szczęsny played, Barça conceded 15 times. The contrast was stark.
Twice against Rayo Vallecano and away at Espanyol, he almost singlehandedly secured points. His extraordinary stop from Pere Milla at the RCDE Stadium was voted LaLiga’s Save of the Season.
Barça’s high defensive line often leaves him exposed. His agility and timing have allowed them to keep playing that way. He is busy, but he thrives on it.
His rise has already pushed Marc-André ter Stegen out on loan to Ajax for 2026-27. The next target is Europe: matching his LaLiga form in the Champions League, where he has been solid but not yet dominant. For Spain, he is still behind Unai Simón, who just delivered a World Cup. Taking those gloves will be a tougher fight.
4. Unai SIMÓN, Athletic Club/Spain, 29
On club form alone, Unai Simón might not be this high. On international legacy, he had to be.
Athletic Club’s 2025-26 LaLiga campaign was underwhelming. Simón was fine, not spectacular. Then came the World Cup, and everything changed.
He conceded just one goal in eight games as Spain marched to the title. He set a new record for consecutive minutes without conceding at a World Cup – 649 – breaking Walter Zenga’s 517-minute mark from 1990. He left with the Golden Glove and a place in history.
Spain’s possession-heavy style and defensive structure protected him, but when he was needed, he delivered. The semifinal against France summed it up: three late saves, all under maximum pressure, to see La Roja through.
Luis de la Fuente’s decision to stick with Simón and leave out David Raya and Joan García was heavily questioned before the tournament. The coach backed his preferred leader and cool head. The payoff was a World Cup and a keeper now holding both that and a European Championship.
Back in Bilbao, there is work to do. Athletic finished 12th in LaLiga and crashed out of the Champions League league phase in 29th, taking some heavy defeats. New coach Edin Terzic has no European distractions this time. Simón will be central to any reset.
With Spain, the fight resumes. Raya and García are not going away, and the Nations League opener against England in September will show whether De la Fuente sticks with his champion or signals a changing of the guard.
3. Gianluigi DONNARUMMA, Manchester City/Italy, 27
Gianluigi Donnarumma left PSG a Champions League winner and was told he was surplus to requirements. Few goalkeepers of his stature have ever been moved on in such fashion. He answered that snub at Manchester City.
In his first Premier League season, he won the internal battle with James Trafford and secured the No. 1 spot. Physically, he remains a giant of the game, arguably the best pure shot stopper around. His 15 clean sheets in 34 league games – a 44% shutout rate, the best of his career and second only to David Raya in the Premier League last season – underlined his impact.
The doubts around him have not vanished. His work with the ball at his feet is still questioned, particularly in a team that wants to build from the back. But when City needed saves, he produced them, keeping Pep Guardiola’s farewell title push alive deep into the campaign.
Now Guardiola has gone. Enzo Maresca is in, and Donnarumma has a new manager to convince. At international level, the frustration runs deeper. Italy have missed three straight World Cups, leaving one of the game’s elite keepers without a stage. He will be desperate for a major tournament to match his club résumé.
2. Thibaut COURTOIS, Real Madrid/Belgium, 34
Real Madrid’s season did not meet their standards. Thibaut Courtois did.
Madrid finished well behind Barcelona in LaLiga, but their goalkeeper remained a wall. He conceded 28 goals in 32 league matches – a goals-against average of 0.88, bettered only by Barça’s Joan García. His 13 clean sheets ranked second in the division, again behind García, and his presence spared Madrid from a far worse campaign.
In the Champions League, his 81.5% save percentage was topped only by David Raya. Madrid reached the quarterfinals with him anchoring a defense that often looked vulnerable.
Then came the World Cup, his first international tournament since 2022. Belgium reached the quarterfinals, where they met eventual champions Spain. At 1-1, Courtois went off injured. Replacement Senne Lammens made a crucial error, and Belgium went out. It was impossible not to wonder what might have happened had Courtois stayed on.
Now Madrid turn to a new era under José Mourinho. For years, Courtois has wanted more defensive structure, more discipline, more rigor on the training ground. Mourinho promises exactly that, and the club have backed the coach with heavy investment in their back line.
For Belgium, the conversation is different. After the World Cup, Courtois spoke openly about wanting a quieter year, to stay in Madrid during the Nations League. If the national team accept that, he is open to continuing. If not, the story of one of the greatest international keepers of his generation could take a sharp turn.
1. David RAYA, Arsenal/Spain, 30
Three years ago, David Raya arrived at Arsenal in the middle of a debate: was he really better than Aaron Ramsdale? That argument is over.
Raya stands at No. 1 on this list because he has become the complete Premier League goalkeeper. He is dominant in the air, assured with the ball, and ruthless in his shot stopping. He fits the physical, frantic nature of English football perfectly.
Last season he was the backbone of Arsenal’s title-winning side. Nineteen Premier League shutouts – four more than any other keeper – and 48 clean sheets across the past three league campaigns, 12 more than any rival, tell the story of his consistency. Across all competitions, Arsenal recorded 32 clean sheets. Raya was the defining figure in that defensive machine and took home a third straight Golden Glove.
He also helped Arsenal to a Champions League final, where they finished runners-up. It capped a season in which he could legitimately claim to be the best goalkeeper in the world.
Yet on the international stage, he watched from the bench. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente kept faith with Unai Simón during their World Cup triumph, leaving Raya without a minute on the pitch. It is a strange twist: the world’s form keeper, a spectator for the world champions.
Back at Arsenal, the path is clearer. Mikel Arteta’s team won the league by being hard to break down rather than free-scoring. Whether the manager loosens the handbrake this season or not, Raya’s presence is non-negotiable. If Arsenal want to defend their title – and go one step further in Europe – they will lean on their No. 1 again.
In a game that keeps asking more and more of goalkeepers, Raya has all the answers right now.
