Germany’s World Cup gold medallist Manuel Neuer has retained his crown with another runaway victory as “The World’s Best Goalkeeper” for 2014. The voting, compiled by editorial staff and experts from 60 countries chosen from all the football continents, was part of the 28th running of the IFFHS annual elections.
MANUEL NEUER IS THE WORLD’S BEST GOALKEEPER 2014
After the reign of Iker Casillas (five consecutive titles from 2008 to 2012), it was not a surprise to see the beginning of the reign of Neuer, the keeper for Bundesliga Club FC Bayern München and the German National Team. A clear winner in 2013 with a margin of more than 100 points, his performances were even more impressive in 2014 with a demoralising 120 points advantage to claim the Top Goalkeeper Award.
Neuer, who is 28, was in the German national team which defeated Argentina to win the World Cup in Brasil and completed the double with his club FC Bayern. He is comfortable technically and is not content with merely protecting his goal (he conceded only four goals in 17 Bundesliga matches, a new Record!), but his quickness of vision and distance enables him to change into libero during a match. Certainly a new reference for the position of Goalkeeper!
Behind him came Thibaut Courtois, the young keeper of Atlético de Madrid / FC Chelsea and the Belgium National Team. At the age of 22, Courtois has a great future and finished an excellent 2014 with a title with Atlético de Madrid, a new challenge with FC Chelsea and a good performance with his national team.
The third place was earned by Keylor Navas, the keeper of Costa Rica. He had a great season with Levante, a tremendous World Cup with Costa Rica and finally was transferred to Real Madrid. Gianluigi Buffon took 4th place, just ahead of World Cup stars Claudio Bravo, Sergio Romero and Guillermo Ochoa.
RANKING 2014
1 – Manuel NEUER (FC Bayern München / Germany) 216 points
2 – Thibaut COURTOIS (Atlético de Madrid/FC Chelsea / Belgium) 96 points
3 – Keylor NAVAS (Levante UD/Real Madrid CF/Costa Rica) 46 points
4 – Gianluigi BUFFON (Juventus FC Torino / Italy) 26 points
5 – Claudio BRAVO (Real Sociedad/FC Barcelona/Chile) 16 points
6 – Sergio ROMERO (AS Monaco/Sampdoria Genua/Argentina) 14 points
7 – Guillermo OCHOA (AC Ajaccio/Malaga/ Mexico) 13 points
8 – Petr CECH (FC Chelsea /Czech Republic) 4 points
9 – Hugo LLORIS (Tottenham/France) and Vincent ENYEAMA (Lille OSC/Nigeria) 2 points
