Ranking the top three favourites to win the FIFA Best Men’s Goalkeeper Award 2022

These players have been nominated for the prestigious award and the voting closes on 3rd February.

How football has changed in recent years is unimaginable. Goalkeepers did not get the deserved plaudits up until this moment when they shifted the dynamics of the game completely. The art of goalkeeping has many techniques involved and it requires years of practice to be a master in it. Throughout the recent seasons, we have seen many goalkeepers emerge and defy their age limits to carry on with the beautiful game.

The Best FIFA Goalkeeper is an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, to the world's best men's and women's goalkeepers. Yassine Bounou, Ederson Moraes, Thibaut Courtois, Emiliano Martinez and Alisson Becker have been adjudged as the nominees for the award. Edouard Mendy won the glorifying award last time around.

Let’s have a look at the top 3 goalkeepers who are the hot favourites to win the FIFA Best Men’s Goalkeeper award for 2022:

3. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium)

The Belgian goalkeeper’s passing range is superb, and he is able to pick out his teammates with passes accurate to a millimetre. Although this is something that a few players in his position can do. Where he excels is making the same passes under pressure.  He rarely obliges anyone with mistakes on his front and has been a loyal guardian of Real Madrid. Since 2018 for whom he has already made 147 appearances.

Though he had a relatively unsuccessful campaign with Belgium. In the recent 2022 FIFA World Cup where the Red Devils were knocked out in the group stage. He has been an influential figure in Real Madrid’s 2022 UEFA Champions League triumph. Courtois was named man of the match in the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final. He managed to make a total of nine saves, which helped Real Madrid to beat Liverpool (1–0). 

His decision-making and positioning abilities have also been excellent throughout 2022 and this helps him make saves which are spectacular. An excellent shot-stopper between the three sticks, he can also function as a “sweeper-keeper”.  He managed to keep 22 clean sheets in the 2021-2022 campaign across all formats for Real Madrid which makes him our 3rd best choice for winning the FIFA best men’s goalkeeper award.

2. Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa, Argentina)

An integral part of Argentina’s resurgence, he is a very familiar face nowadays. Talk about mind games when you are going to take a spot kick and you would never want to face this man. Known for his big physical presence and reflexes, he has often been termed a spider who engulfs his opponents in front of the goal.

Nicknamed “Dibu”, he has been able to lend a commanding presence in the box with his six-foot and 3-inch frame. 2022 was a phenomenal year for him as it was his breakthrough year. Martinez has racked up only 3 clean sheets in 17 matches for Aston Villa in the ongoing 2022-2023 Premier League campaign but his actual heroics lie in International colours. He played in each and every minute of Argentina’s World Cup-winning campaign.

Emi Martinez won the Golden Glove award in the prestigious tournament for his immense show of talent. He racked up two penalty saves against the Netherlands in the Quarter Finals but the most memorable moment of 2022 has to be his 1-on-1 save against Kolo Mouani in the dying stages of extra time to force the match to a penalty shootout.

Martinez eventually saved Kingsley Coman’s tiebreaker in the shootout to give Argentina a 4-2 victory over France. He has 11 clean sheets out of 37 appearances in the 2021-2022 campaign for Aston Villa conceding 49 times on these occasions.

1. Allison Becker (Liverpool, Brazil)

Becker has been praised for his ability to produce crucial saves and brilliance in one-on-one situations. As well as his positioning, distribution and consistency. Allison is rated by some in the sport as the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment. He has exceptional reactions and goalkeeping techniques. He is a ball-playing keeper who functions as a sweeper behind the defensive line and therefore positions himself higher up the pitch.

The goalkeeper is now so important in possession that their actions can alter a team's entire style of play. He has a lot of synergy with the playing style of Klopp as attacks start with the goalkeeper and he just happens to be the perfect fit for Klopp. His fundamental base is immaculate and he hardly leaves any scraps for his opponents to pounce upon.

The number one choice for Brazil ahead of Ederson, he is currently the joint-holder of the Premier League Golden Glove award with Ederson. Both of them kept 20 clean sheets in the 2021-2022 campaign. The race for The Premier League Golden Glove award is heating up this time around too as Allison has 5 clean sheets in his name while Ederson has 6. Although keeping along with the stats, he happens to be the best goalkeeper of 2022 as he managed to keep 29 clean sheets out of 62 appearances for Brazil and Liverpool.