Only four goalkeepers have ever won the FWA Footballer of the Year award

fwa player of the year award thropy close upJasonCraigRich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Posted By: Lucky November 27, 2024

The annual Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award is given to the player considered to have had the best season in English football.

Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland, and Phil Foden have recently won the award. The winners tend to be attacking players who score goals and excite fans.

However, there has been a small group of winners whose primary goal is to prevent goals, goalkeepers, who have claimed the award throughout the years.

Who are the four goalkeepers to win the award?

Bert Trautmann (Winner of the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1956)

bert trautmann sculpture man city museum

Sculpture of Bert Trautmann at the Manchester City Museum – Oldelpaso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Trautmann’s story is an incredible one. He was a German paratrooper who was captured during the Second World War. On his release in 1948, he turned down the offer of repatriation and instead made a life for himself in Lancashire.

He combined working on a farm with playing for St Helens Town. In October 1949, he joined top-flight Manchester City.

The decision was greeted with anger by City fans, and 20,000 people attended a demonstration against Trautmann joining the Citizens.

However, the German gradually endeared himself to the City fans by playing in 245 of City’s next 250 games. In 1956, Trautmann entered football folklore.

During the FA Cup final against Birmingham City, Trautmann sustained a broken neck with 17 minutes left on the clock. Unaware of the seriousness of his injury until an x-ray three days after the game, he carried on playing and helped the Citizens to a 3-1 victory.

His performance, despite the injury, earned him the 1956 FWA Footballer of the award. He was the first goalkeeper ever to claim the prize.

Gordon Banks (Winner of the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1972)

gordon banks statue outside stoke stadium

Gordon Banks statue outside the Stoke City Stadium – Gordon Banks statue outside the Britannia Stadium by Mat Fascione, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

England’s legendary goalkeeper enjoyed a long and illustrious career at both club and international level. Banks’ career spanned nearly two decades in the club game.

During his club career, he played for Chesterfield, Leicester City, Stoke City and, towards the end, Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the US NASL.

He was, of course, England’s goalkeeper when the Three Lions won the World Cup on home soil in 1966. The final was just one of 73 appearances he made for his national team.

Although his club career was not trophy-laden, he helped Stoke City win the League Cup in 1972, as the Potters recorded a 2-1 final win over Chelsea at Wembley.

It was only the second trophy of his playing career, as he had previously won the same competition with Leicester City in season 1963/64.

Primarily for his part in Stoke’s rare triumph, Banks became just the second goalkeeper in history to win the FWA Footballer of the Year award.

Pat Jennings (Winner of the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1973)

Just a year after Banks won the same award, another legendary goalkeeper of the British game, Pat Jennings, was given the same honour.

Like his contemporary, Banks, Jennings enjoyed a long-playing career at the top level of the English game. He started his career in English football in 1963 with Watford and didn’t officially retire until 1986.

During his playing career, Jennings won several pieces of silverware, including the FA Cup on two occasions with Arsenal and Tottenham, the League Cup twice with Spurs and also the UEFA Cup once with the north London team in season 1971/72.

Jennings won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1973, having helped Tottenham to the League Cup for the second time in his Spurs career.

It wasn’t the only award the Northern Ireland international won, though. In 1975/76, Jennings also won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award.

The former Tottenham stopper was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1976 for services to football.

During his playing career, Jennings was considered one of the finest goalkeepers in the game. Even nearly 40 years after his retirement, fans still consider him one of the best goalkeepers of all time.

Interestingly, at the end of his career in 1986, he joined Everton as goalkeeping cover for future FWA Footballer of the Year winner Neville Southall, who injured himself on international duty ahead of the 1986 FA Cup final.

However, the Northern Irishman didn’t get on the pitch during the 3-1 defeat against Liverpool.

Neville Southall (Winner of the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985)

In the 1980s, Everton’s Wales international Neville Southall emerged as arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, as the Toffees greatest ever team shone in the English top-flight under the managerial legend Howard Kendall.

Having joined the club from Bury in 1981, he wasn’t an immediate success on Merseyside, but he worked hard and became a genuinely world-class goalkeeper.

During his time with the Toffees, from 1981 until 1998, the Welshman won the First Division title twice in season 1984/85 and 1986/87, the FA Cup in 1984 and 1995, and also the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1985.

For his part in Everton’s success in the 1984/85 season, Southall was awarded the FWA Footballer of the Year award.

Southall was also named in First Division PFA Team of the Year in seasons 1986/87, 1987/88, 1988/89 and 1989/90.

The respected football publication World Soccer ranked him 95th on its list of the ‘Greatest Players of the 20th Century’.

While shining in the club game for Everton, Southall also made 92 appearances for Wales from 1982 until 1997.