Each squad's most valuable goalkeeper, and its gk_share — that keeper's slice of total squad value. The headline question: do champions always have the tournament's best goalkeeper? 2002 predates Transfermarkt values. Cache-only.
The goalkeeper's clean sheets — matches their team conceded zero — from the actual line-ups, 2002–2026 (exact: the starting keeper each match). Sortable.
| # | Goalkeeper | Clean sheets | WC starts | CS rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thibaut Courtois | 8 | 21 | 38% |
| 2 | Hugo Lloris | 8 | 20 | 40% |
| 3 | Unai Simón | 8 | 11 | 73% |
| 4 | Manuel Neuer | 7 | 23 | 30% |
| 5 | Fernando Muslera | 7 | 19 | 37% |
| 6 | Iker Casillas | 7 | 17 | 41% |
| 7 | Alisson | 7 | 13 | 54% |
| 8 | Jordan Pickford | 6 | 19 | 32% |
| 9 | Gianluigi Buffon | 6 | 14 | 43% |
| 10 | Sergio Romero | 6 | 12 | 50% |
| 11 | Emiliano Martínez | 5 | 14 | 36% |
| 12 | Yassine Bounou | 5 | 12 | 42% |
| 13 | Fabien Barthez | 5 | 10 | 50% |
| 14 | Oliver Kahn | 5 | 8 | 62% |
| 15 | Guillermo Ochoa | 4 | 11 | 36% |
| 16 | Keylor Navas | 4 | 11 | 36% |
| 17 | David Ospina | 4 | 9 | 44% |
| 18 | Mike Maignan | 4 | 8 | 50% |
| 19 | Ricardo | 4 | 7 | 57% |
| 20 | Jasper Cillessen | 4 | 7 | 57% |
| # | Goalkeeper | Clean sheets | Starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unai Simón | 6 | 7 |
| 2 | Mike Maignan | 4 | 8 |
| 3 | Camilo Vargas | 4 | 5 |
| 4 | Raúl Rangel | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | Emiliano Martínez | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | Jordan Pickford | 2 | 7 |
| 7 | Yassine Bounou | 2 | 6 |
| 8 | Gregor Kobel | 2 | 6 |
| 9 | Alisson | 2 | 5 |
| 10 | Maxime Crépeau | 2 | 5 |
Italy 2006 (Buffon), Spain 2010 (Casillas) and Germany 2014 (Neuer) each had the single most valuable goalkeeper in their World Cup. But France 2018 (Lloris, the 6th-valued keeper) and Argentina 2022 (Emiliano Martínez, 7th) both won without one — you no longer need the most expensive gloves to lift the trophy.
| Champion | Goalkeeper | Value | gk_share | GK rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇮🇹 Italy 2006 | Gianluigi Buffon | €30M | 8% | #1 of 32 |
| 🇪🇸 Spain 2010 | Iker Casillas | €32M | 5% | #1 of 32 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany 2014 | Manuel Neuer | €35M | 7% | #1 of 32 |
| 🇫🇷 France 2018 | Hugo Lloris | €25M | 2% | #6 of 32 |
| 🇦🇷 Argentina 2022 | Emiliano Martínez | €25M | 4% | #7 of 32 |
Keylor Navas was 45% of Costa Rica's entire squad value in 2018 — the most any one keeper has carried.
| # | Goalkeeper | Squad | Value | gk_share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keylor Navas | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 2018 | €18M | 45% |
| 2 | Keylor Navas | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 2022 | €5M | 27% |
| 3 | Samir Handanović | 🇸🇮 Slovenia 2010 | €10M | 22% |
| 4 | Petr Čech | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2006 | €22M | 17% |
| 5 | Tim Howard | 🇺🇸 United States 2010 | €10M | 16% |
| 6 | Mathew Ryan | 🇦🇺 Australia 2018 | €8M | 16% |
| 7 | Keylor Navas | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 2014 | €4M | 14% |
| 8 | Mathew Ryan | 🇦🇺 Australia 2022 | €5M | 13% |
| 9 | Gregor Kobel | 🇨🇭 Switzerland 2026 | €40M | 12% |
| 10 | Mathew Ryan | 🇦🇺 Australia 2014 | €2M | 12% |
| 11 | Igor Akinfeev | 🇷🇺 Russia 2014 | €20M | 11% |
| 12 | Édouard Mendy | 🇸🇳 Senegal 2022 | €25M | 11% |
| 13 | Thibaut Courtois | 🇧🇪 Belgium 2022 | €60M | 11% |
| 14 | Diego Benaglio | 🇨🇭 Switzerland 2010 | €10M | 10% |
| 15 | Lukáš Horníček | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 2026 | €18M | 10% |
From each keeper's full per-game log: a clean sheet is a league game he played with zero goals conceded while on the pitch. Career-to-date through July 2026 (not squad-frozen — it's a career stat). Keepers with 100+ league games; top 25 of 527.
| # | Goalkeeper | WC nation | Clean sheets | League games | CS rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gianluigi Buffon | 🇮🇹 Italy | 339 | 756 | 45% |
| 2 | Manuel Neuer | 🇩🇪 Germany | 274 | 601 | 46% |
| 3 | Igor Akinfeev | 🇷🇺 Russia | 274 | 632 | 43% |
| 4 | Edwin van der Sar | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 269 | 606 | 44% |
| 5 | Pepe Reina | 🇪🇸 Spain | 267 | 706 | 38% |
| 6 | Petr Čech | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | 255 | 568 | 45% |
| 7 | Oleksandr Shovkovskyi | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 249 | 457 | 54% |
| 8 | Iker Casillas | 🇪🇸 Spain | 241 | 630 | 38% |
| 9 | Vítor Baía | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 241 | 430 | 56% |
| 10 | Kasper Schmeichel | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 240 | 701 | 34% |
| 11 | Hugo Lloris | 🇫🇷 France | 237 | 664 | 36% |
| 12 | David Seaman | 🏴 England | 235 | 608 | 39% |
| 13 | Essam El Hadary | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 227 | 464 | 49% |
| 14 | Mickaël Landreau | 🇫🇷 France | 225 | 618 | 36% |
| 15 | Leonel Moreira | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | 222 | 569 | 39% |
| 16 | David James | 🏴 England | 219 | 732 | 30% |
| 17 | Samir Handanović | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 219 | 612 | 36% |
| 18 | Shusaku Nishikawa | 🇯🇵 Japan | 217 | 663 | 33% |
| 19 | Aleksandr Filimonov | 🇷🇺 Russia | 216 | 543 | 40% |
| 20 | Thibaut Courtois | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 216 | 510 | 42% |
| 21 | Fernando Muslera | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | 215 | 588 | 37% |
| 22 | Jens Lehmann | 🇩🇪 Germany | 214 | 624 | 34% |
| 23 | Yann Sommer | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 214 | 629 | 34% |
| 24 | Víctor Valdés | 🇪🇸 Spain | 210 | 503 | 42% |
| 25 | Steve Mandanda | 🇫🇷 France | 209 | 631 | 33% |