The Golden Glove is the World Cup's specialist award, because it honours the goalkeeper who shapes the tournament most clearly. It is not only about clean sheets. It is about saves, command, nerve and big-match influence.
Quick Answer
No goalkeeper has won the men's World Cup Golden Glove twice. The current holder is Emiliano Martinez, who took the award in 2022 after helping Argentina win the tournament.
What Is the Golden Glove
The award goes to the best goalkeeper at the FIFA World Cup finals. FIFA's own awards material notes that the men's best-goalkeeper prize started in 1994 as the Lev Yashin Award and was renamed in 2010.
The winner is chosen for overall tournament impact, not simply for finishing with the most clean sheets.
In simple terms, the Golden Glove usually goes to the keeper who combines level, leadership and decisive moments under the most pressure.
All-Time Golden Glove Winners
| Year | Tournament | Winner | Country | Goals or Stat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | United States | Michel Preud'homme | Belgium | Tournament best goalkeeper |
| 1998 | France | Fabien Barthez | France | Tournament best goalkeeper |
| 2002 | Korea/Japan | Oliver Kahn | Germany | Tournament best goalkeeper |
| 2006 | Germany | Gianluigi Buffon | Italy | Tournament best goalkeeper |
| 2010 | South Africa | Iker Casillas | Spain | Tournament best goalkeeper |
| 2014 | Brazil | Manuel Neuer | Germany | Tournament best goalkeeper |
| 2018 | Russia | Thibaut Courtois | Belgium | Tournament best goalkeeper |
| 2022 | Qatar | Emiliano Martinez | Argentina | Tournament best goalkeeper |
Records and Notable Facts
Most wins by one player
No goalkeeper has won the men's World Cup Golden Glove twice. That makes the award unusually open compared with other World Cup honours, because every edition has produced a new name on the trophy.
It also means the 2026 winner will either continue that pattern or become the first man to take the prize for a second time.
How the award changed name
From 1994 to 2006, FIFA gave the men's best-goalkeeper prize as the Lev Yashin Award. Since 2010, the same honour has been presented as the adidas Golden Glove.
That naming change matters because it explains why older World Cup histories sometimes use different award titles for the same goalkeeper prize.
Countries with most wins
Belgium and Germany currently share the lead with two men's winners each. Belgium has Michel Preud'homme and Thibaut Courtois, while Germany has Oliver Kahn and Manuel Neuer.
That list tells a simple story: countries with long goalkeeper traditions usually stay close to the front of this award history.
What This History Tells Us About 2026
The winners list shows that this prize usually goes to a goalkeeper who delivers at least one defining knockout performance. Deep runs matter, but the real separator is often one moment that saves a team's tournament.
It also shows how open the award stays from edition to edition. No man has won it twice, so the
Frequently Asked Questions
It is FIFA's award for the best goalkeeper of the tournament, selected on overall performance rather than clean sheets alone.
Emiliano Martinez won the award for Argentina at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
No. Every men's World Cup Golden Glove winner has been a different goalkeeper so far.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Emiliano Martinez, Yassine Bounou and Mike Maignan are among the clearest early contenders.
Conclusion
The Golden Glove winners list is shorter than many World Cup honours, but it is one of the hardest to fake. Every name on it carried a team through pressure matches when one mistake could have ended the run.
The