The World‘s best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century

Establishing The World‘s best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century can only be done on the basis of the annual world vote (by the IFFHS). Each year many different jurors (countries) have taken part in the vote and, in the early years the jurors voted for the top three places (3 points to 1 point), and only later for the top four places (4 points to 1 point). So it would not be possible to simply add the points awarded in the annual votes.

The IFFHS has devised an equitable method for determining The World‘s best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century. From the annual ranking of the goalkeepers (as a result of the world vote) the IFFHS will take into consideration the "Top 20" for each year and allocate points to each place. So the first-placed receives 20 points, the second-placed 19 points, the third-placed 18 points ... and a point for twentieth place. If the annual world ranking comprises more than 20 goalkeepers, then the goalkeepers from 21st place onwards receive no points. If the annual world ranking comprises fewer than 20 goalkeepers (based on the fixed rules), no points will be awarded for the unoccupied palces.
From the addition of the points received in the single years produces the world ranking list of the 21st century, which widens of a year every year in January. Each first-placed goalkeeper of this world ranking list is the leading World’s best Referee of the 21st Century to date.


Gianluigi Buffon ahead of Iker Casillas by a hair

Over the 12 years, Italian "Gigi" Buffon leads the rankings by only one point ahead of Spaniard Iker Casillas and is therefore the leading World’s best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century. To date Iker Casillas has been voted the The World best Goalkeeper of the Year once more than Gianluigi Buffon. Should the Spaniard rank two places ahead of "Gigi" Buffon in the "Top 20" in the 2013 world election, he would take the lead in this world ranking. And with the Czech Petr Čech still active, these three goalkeeper have got away from the pursuers. South America‘s leading goalkeeper of the 21st century is at the moment »Dida« (Brazil). The leading goalkeeper of the 21st century of the CONCACAF area is "Tim" Howard (USA), of Asia, Woon-Jae Lee (Republic of Korea), of Oceania , Mark Schwarzer (Australia) and of Africa Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria). 

  

Ranking (2001-2012): 


SpielerNationalitätpoints




1.Gianluigi BuffonItalia218
2.Iker CasillasEspaña217
3.Petr ČechČeská Republika172
4.Edwin van der SarNederland116
5.Oliver KahnDeutschland99
6.Víctor Valdés España97
7.Nélson de Jesus e Silva »Dida«Brasil90
8.Júlio César Soãres EspíndolaBrasil76
9.Jens LehmannDeutschland72
10.Roberto Carlos AbbondanzieriArgentina68
11.Fabien BarthezFrance55
12.José Manuel ReinaEspaña54
13.Rogério CeniBrasil53

Manuel NeuerDeutschland53
15.Francesco ToldoItalia52
15.Igor AkinfeevRussia47
16.Jerzy DudekPolska42
18.Hugo LlorisFrance38
19.Timothy Matthew HowardUSA36
20.Santiago CañizaresEspaña35
21.Justo Wilmar VillarParaguay34
22.Charles Joseph John HartEngland30
23.Fernando Néstor MusleraUruguay29
24.Grégory CoupetFrance28
25.Rüstü ReçberTürkiye27
26.José Luis Félix ChilavertParaguay26

Maarten StekelenburgNederland26
28.José Francisco CevallosEcuador25
29.Andonios NikopolidisHellas24
30.René AdlerDeutschland23

Samir HandanovićSlovenija23
32.Bradlay Howard FriedelUSA21
33.Oscar Eduardo CórdobaColombia19
34.Séamus John James GivenIreland17

Marcos Roberto Silveira ReisBrasil17

Francisco Guillermo OchoaMéxico17

Andrés PalopEspaña17
38.Vítor Manuel Martins BaíaPortugal16

Ricardo Alexandre Martins Soares Portugal16
40.Heurelho da Silva GomesBrasil15

Timo HildebrandDeutschland15
42.Cássio RamosBrasil14
43.Juan Carlos HenaoColombia13

Woon-Jae LeeRepublic of Korea13
45.Oswaldo SánchezMéxico12

Mark SchwarzerAustralia12
47.Ruslan NigmatullinRussia11
48.Carlo CudiciniItalia10

Doniéber Alexander Marangon »Doni«Brasil10

Vincent EnyeamaNigeria10

Andreas IsakssonSverige10

Ivan PellizzoliItalia10

Óscar PérezMéxico10

Peter SchmeichelDanmark10
55.Christian AbbiatiItalia9

Eduardo dos Reis CarvalhoPortugal9

Richard Paul Franck KingsonGhana9
58.Magnus HedmanSverige8

Ricardo Javier TavarelliParaguay8

Pascal ZuberbühlerSchweiz8
61.Mohamed Saqr AhmedQatar7

Jhonny Cristian HerreraChile7

Nigel MartynEngland7

Sergey OvchinnikovRussia7
65.Roberto Óscar BonanoArgentina6

Agustín JulioColombia6

Vyacheslav MalafeevRussia6

David SeamanEngland6

Tony Mario SylvaSénégal6
70.Artur BorucPolska5

Héctor Fabián CariniUruguay5

Carlos Fernando Navarro MontoyaArgentina5

Diego Sebastián SajaArgentina5

Sander WesterveldNederland5
75.José María BuljabasichArgentina4

Germán Adrian BurgosArgentina4

David De GeaEspaña4

Manuel Almunia RiveroEspaña4
79.Thomas SørensenDanmark3
80.Grégory WimbéeFrance2
81.Carlos Idriss KameniCameroun1