Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Al Jazeera - Sports:

Al Jazeera Digital Archive

Spanish Unai Simón was awarded the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, after helping lead his country to win the World Cup title for the second time.

Unai Simón played in Spain's 1-0 victory over Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in the World Cup final, which went into extra time.

Simón topped the list of nominees, benefiting from his team's 2-0 victory over France in the semi-final, displacing French goalkeeper Mike Maignan who had been a prominent candidate before that match, before leading his country to a 1-0 win over Argentina in the final to claim the award, surpassing Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.

Simón's consecutive clean sheet streak ended at 649 minutes during the 2-1 victory over Belgium in the quarter-finals, the longest streak in World Cup history.