The key facts

  • 19,806 footballers from 73 countries took part in the FIFPRO survey
  • First place among goalkeepers went to David Raya (51.9%), followed by Courtois (38.6%) and Martinez (32.7%)
  • Matvey Safonov did not make the top ten goalkeepers in the vote

Union vote: Safonov outside the top ten

PSG's Russian goalkeeper Matvey Safonov did not make the top ten goalkeepers in the FIFPRO vote for the 2026 men's World XI. Citing 365Scores, this is reported by Gazeta.Ru. The survey was conducted among 19,806 professional footballers from 73 countries: each participant named the three best goalkeepers.

Survey leaders

First place went to Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya with 51.9% of the votes, second was Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid (38.6%), and third was Emiliano Martinez, who moved from Aston Villa to Chelsea (32.7%). Performances from August 4, 2025 to July 19, 2026 were taken into account. Since the percentages reflect the share of voters who included a player in their top three, the totals do not add up to 100%.

Context for Safonov

Safonov joined the Paris club from Krasnodar in the summer of 2024. Over the course of last season he won the competition against Lucas Chevalier, who had been signed as a replacement for Gianluigi Donnarumma; his contract with PSG runs until the summer of 2029. Earlier, according to Gazeta.Ru, the club reacted to Safonov's fourth place in the ranking of the season's best goalkeepers — that is, in the club ranking he was in the top five, whereas in the vote of his fellow professionals he did not even make the top ten. This discrepancy is explained by differences in methodology: the club ranking and the union vote covered different periods and involved different participants.