Oliver Rolf Kahn is a German football executive and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He started his career in the Karlsruher SC Junior team in 1975. Twelve years later, Kahn made his debut match in the professional squad. In 1994, he was transferred to Bayern Munich for the fee of DM 4.6 million, where he played until the end of his career in 2008. His commanding presence in goal and aggressive style earned him nicknames such as Der Titan from the press and Vol-kahn-o ("volcano") from fans. Kahn is one of the most successful German players in recent history, having won eight Bundesliga titles, six DFB-Pokals, the UEFA Cup in 1996, the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, both achieved in 2001. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, his individual contributions have earned him a record four consecutive UEFA Best European Goalkeeper awards, as well as three IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper awards, and two German Footballer of the Year trophies. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Kahn became the only goalkeeper in the tournament's history to win the Golden Ball. Kahn placed fifth in both the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century and Best Goalkeeper of the Past 25 Years elections.
Peter Bolesław Schmeichel is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During eight seasons at English club Manchester United, he won 15 trophies including five Premier League titles, three FA Cups and he captained the club to victory in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final to complete the Treble. Schmeichel also played for the Danish national team, with whom he won the UEFA European Championship in 1992. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he was voted the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper in both 1992 and 1993, while the International Federation of Football History & Statistics ranked Schmeichel among the top ten goalkeepers of the 20th century.
Iker Casillas Fernández is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "San Iker" for his ability to produce miraculous saves, Casillas is widely considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is known for his athleticism, quick reactions and outstanding shot-stopping ability. Having spent the majority of his career at Real Madrid, Casillas is one of the few players to achieve over 1,000 professional career matches, and also holds the record for the most clean sheets for the Spain national team. Currently, he works for RTVE, Movistar Plus+ and Azteca Deportes.
Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and by some the greatest of all time, he is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances and holds the record for the most appearances in Serie A.
Edwin van der Sar is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who was most recently the chief executive of Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a member of the club's golden generation and was part of the Ajax team that won the UEFA Champions League in 1995. A goalkeeper, he left Ajax for Juventus in 1999, where he spent two years before moving to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United in 2005. There he won a second Champions League title in 2008, making him one of just eight players at the time to have won the competition with more than one club. He retired as a professional in 2011, but briefly came out of retirement in 2016 to play a match for Dutch amateur team VV Noordwijk, for whom he had previously played as a youth. He played 130 times for the Netherlands national team, and was the nation's most-capped player until 2017, when he was overtaken by Wesley Sneijder.
Jens Gerhard Lehmann is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was a member of Arsenal's "Invincibles", playing every match of their unbeaten title-winning season. He holds the UEFA Champions League record for the most consecutive clean sheets, not conceding a single goal in eight consecutive full matches while he played for Arsenal. He also has the highest number of continuous minutes without conceding goals. In total, this lasted 853 minutes. He is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation.
Petr Čech is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Oxford City Stars. He has been described as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and, by some, as the greatest goalkeeper, alongside Peter Schmeichel, in Premier League history.
Francesco Toldo is an Italian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation.
Stipe Pletikosa is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. As of 29 July 2021, he works at the Croatian Football Federation as the technical director of the national senior and under-21 teams.
The goalkeeper is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from scoring. This is accomplished by having the goalkeeper move into the trajectory of the ball to either catch it or direct it further from the vicinity of the goal line. Within the penalty area goalkeepers are allowed to use their hands, giving them the sole rights on the field to handle the ball. The goalkeeper is indicated by wearing a different coloured kit from their teammates and opposition.
The 2007 FA Cup final was played on Saturday, 19 May 2007 between Chelsea and Manchester United. It was the 126th FA Cup Final and the first to be played at the new Wembley Stadium. Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 thanks to an extra-time goal from Didier Drogba, completing a domestic cup double for the Blues in the 2006–07 season, as they had already won the League Cup Final in February. Manchester United were favourite for winning a double of their own as they had recently beaten Chelsea to the Premier League title two weeks earlier. The game was widely considered to be a disappointment by pundits and fans alike. As a result of Manchester United and Chelsea having already been guaranteed qualification for the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup entry for the FA Cup winner/runner-up went instead to the highest positioned Premier League team who had not already qualified for Europe: Bolton Wanderers.
Manuel Peter Neuer is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for and captains Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential goalkeepers in the history of the sport, Neuer has been described as a "sweeper-keeper" because of his playing style and speed when rushing off his line to anticipate opponents, going out of the penalty area. He was named the best goalkeeper of the decade from 2011 to 2020 by IFFHS.
At the end of each UEFA European Championship tournament, several awards are attributed to the players and teams which have distinguished from the rest, in different aspects of the game.
The Premier League Golden Glove is an annual association football award presented to the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League. In football a team's defence or goalkeeper may be said to "keep a clean sheet" if they prevent their opponents from scoring any goals during an entire match. For sponsorship purposes, it has been referred to as the Barclays Golden Glove since its inception during the 2004–05 season until the 2015–16 season and as the Cadbury Golden Glove from 2017–18 season to 2019–20 season. For the 2020–21 season, it was known as the Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Golden Glove and for the 2021–22 season, it is known as the Castrol Golden Glove.
Europass is a football made by Adidas. It was the official match ball for UEFA Euro 2008. The ball was officially presented on 2 December 2007 during the group draw for the final tournament. For the final, a silver version, the "Europass Gloria", was used. The same ball but with different design was used in UEFA Champions League from 2008 through 2009 and in 2009 UEFA Super Cup and 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.
Wojciech Tomasz Szczęsny is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
The IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper is a football award given annually since 1987 to the best goalkeeper of the year as voted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The votes are cast by IFFHS's editorial staff as well as experts from different continents.
The Premier League Hall of Fame is an online association football hall of fame for the Premier League, the top division of English football. The Hall of Fame is intended to recognise and honour players and managers that have achieved great success and made a significant contribution to the Premier League. The Hall of Fame was announced in 2020 and the first inductions took place in 2021.
