To French magazine France Football, organizer of the award Gold ball, announced on Thursday, 19, the creation of a special trophy for the best goalkeeper of the season, named the award Lev Yashin, in honor of the legendary Soviet goalkeeper, who died in 1990. The new prize will be presented to the others at the December 2 awards ceremony at the Chatelet theater in Paris.
For the editor-in-chief of the publication, Pascal Ferré, the creation of the trophy is due to the fact that the main prize is often won by attacking players. The journalist, however, does not see the initiative as a consolation prize. “He will reward the best goalkeeper in the world, elected by the same jury of international experts as the Golden Ball,” explained Ferré.
Lev Yashin, incidentally, is still the only goalkeeper who won the Golden Ball in 1963. Nicknamed the “Black Spider”, the Russian idol played in the 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970 Cups and is considered one of the best in the position Everytime.
The French magazine thus repeats a trend in FIFA awards, which since 2017 has awarded the best goalkeeper. At The Best awards, which takes place next Monday, 23, in Milan, Brazilians Alisson (Liverpool) and Ederson (Manchester City) compete with German Ter Stegen (Barcelona). European and Copa America champion, Alisson is the favorite at the FIFA and FIFA awards France Football.
In addition to the Lev Yashin trophy and the Golden Ball for the best player, created in 1956, the ceremony will award the Women’s Golden Ball and the Kopa Trophy, for the best U21s of the year, both created last year.
The organizers said they would announce candidates for the different awards on October 21, leaving the jury more than a month to cast their votes. The magazine also announced that the Golden Ball award will be presented by former Ivorian striker Didier Drogba.
(with EFE)
