Their nations may not have featured in the final of the but Portugal’s Diogo Costa and England’s Jordan Pickford have earned individual accolades, finishing on top of the two Goalkeeping categories in the .
It was Diogo Costa (8.45) who finished on top of the Defending the Goal section, narrowly clear of Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez (8.15). The Portuguese star made 19 saves across a competition that ended for the Iberians in the Round of 16.
His tournament was built on repeated high-value interventions in tight matches. The 26-year-old's decisive ranking performance came against Spain in the Round of 16, when he made five saves from six shots faced in a 1-0 defeat. Portugal went out, but Costa’s shot-stopping body of work still finished above every goalkeeper in the category.
GK saves: 19 Attempts at goal faced: 23 Goal preventions: 69 Passes completed: 98 of 125 Completed line breaks: 16 GK throws: 20
Standing behind a watertight defence, Unai Simon (7.72) finished sixth in Defending the Goal, with the (7.88) second in the In Possession category.
It was a wonderful tournament for Simon, who is now third on the all-time list of clean sheets in FIFA World Cup™ history, with nine in 12 matches. Having finished second in possession and sixth for defending the goal, his performance perfectly reflects Spain’s triumph. He was rarely asked to dominate matches with spectacular volume, but repeatedly gave Spain security, availability and calm restarts from the back.
Passes completed: 253 of 314 Completed line breaks: 50 GK saves: 9 Attempts at goal faced: 11 Goal preventions: 49 Possession regains: 71
1. Diogo Costa (Portugal) - 8.45 2. Emiliano Martinez (Argentina) - 8.15 3. Jordan Pickford (England) - 7.85 4. Yassine Bounou (Morocco) - 7.80 5. Gregor Kobel (Switzerland) - 7.76 6. Unai Simon (Spain) - 7.72 7. Orlando Gill (Paraguay) - 7.68 8. Mostafa Shoubir (Egypt) - 7.67 9. Orjan Nyland (Norway) - 7.34 10. Matt Freese (USA) - 6.50
It was England’s Jordan Pickford (7.92) who topped the In Possession category, with South Africa’s Ronwen Williams (7.22) in third. Cabo Verde’s veteran custodian Vozinha (6.86) ended in seventh place.
Given that Pickford also finished third for Defending the Goal, it meant that England had the most complete top-end goalkeeper profile in the final rankings. His distribution was always carried out with purpose, and provided a consistent way for England to escape pressure and reset attacks.
Passes completed: 190 of 265 Completed line breaks: 53 GK saves: 15 Attempts at goal faced: 23 Goal preventions: 81 GK pass beyond: 19
1. Jordan Pickford (England) - 7.92 2. Unai Simon (Spain) - 7.88 3. Ronwen Williams (South Africa) - 7.22 4. Orlando Gill (Paraguay) - 7.14 5. Gregor Kobel (Switzerland) - 7.10 6. Orjan Nyland (Norway) - 6.90 7. Vozinha (Cabo Verde) - 6.86 8. Raul Rangel (Mexico) - 6.80 9. Thibaut Courtois (Belgium) - 6.15 10. Nikola Vasilj (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - 5.97
Sources: FIFA Official
