Spain’s Unai Simón, goalkeeper for Athletic Bilbao and the Spanish national football team, won the 2026 Yashin Trophy for the world’s best men’s goalkeeper at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony held in London on Monday evening.
اضافة اعلان
Spain’s Cata Coll, goalkeeper for Barcelona and the Spanish national team, won the 2026 award for best women’s goalkeeper. Spain therefore claimed both the men’s and women’s goalkeeping awards at the 70th edition of the ceremony.
Former Danish goalkeeper and Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel presented the awards to Simón and Coll at the event, held at London’s Palladium Theatre.
Simón’s victory followed his role in leading Spain to the 2026 FIFA World Cup title, where he excelled in protecting his country’s goal and helped the national team secure the world title for the second time in its history.
Simón prevailed over several leading goalkeepers nominated for the award, including Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid, Argentina’s Emiliano Martínez, Spain’s David Raya of English club Arsenal, and Russia’s Matvey Safonov of French club Paris Saint-Germain.
In the women’s category, Coll finished ahead of Germany’s Ann-Katrin Berger, England’s Hannah Hampton, Brazil’s Lorena and Japan’s Ayaka Yamashita, following a season in which she delivered outstanding performances for Barcelona.
The Yashin Trophy is named after former Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1963. It is awarded annually to the world’s best goalkeeper, while the women’s award was introduced in 2025.
French magazine France Football organises the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in partnership with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), honouring the world’s leading players, coaches and goalkeepers.
