Vyacheslav Malafeev, the former goalkeeper of the Russian national team and the Zenit club in St. Petersburg, shared his thoughts on the chances of goalkeepers winning the "Golden Ball" award. This was reported by Euro-football.ru.
According to Malafeev, a goalkeeper must achieve significant accomplishments to win the "Golden Ball." He needs to win all penalties in the Champions League and with the national team, as well as secure victories in all competitions with his club.
Such achievements give the goalkeeper a chance to be nominated for the award, but do not guarantee winning it. So far, the only goalkeeper to have won the "Golden Ball" remains Lev Yashin, who played for the Dynamo team during the Soviet era.
Thus, winning the highest individual award for goalkeepers is considered a very complex and rare occurrence. In Malafeev's opinion, in the future, goalkeepers will still need to demonstrate high-level results to be considered for this award.
