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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lewis Pangratiou

2022 Qatar World Cup Golden Glove rules explained and goalkeepers who could win it

The business end of the World Cup is ahead of us. With several teams already confirmed to be in the competition's last 16, coaches, players and supporters alike will be preparing for knockout football in Qatar.

Every country still in with a shout of winning the tournament outright will be backing their chances in the knockout rounds. Whilst the biggest award is of course the trophy itself, there are plenty of individual honours on show, too.

The Golden Ball is presented to the tournament's best player, whilst the Golden Boot is handed to the competition's top scorer. Players 21 and younger are also eligible for the Best Young Player award, whilst the Golden Glove is presented to the most outstanding goalkeeper.

READ MORE: Ben White leaves England World Cup squad due to 'personal reasons'

The latter of those awards is perhaps more complicated because it's incredibly subjective by comparison. In most domestic competitions, the Golden Glove is handed out to the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets. However, with the World Cup being such a short format, it's awarded based on contributions from the goal line as oppose to number of clean sheets kept.

In fact, FIFA's Technical Study Group determines the victor following the World Cup final by considering all players’ cumulative effectiveness. Belgium's Thibaut Courtois is the most recent winner, but after the Red Devils' shock exit on Thursday, he won't be retaining his crown in 2022.

Plenty of names are in with a shout. Alisson Becker is the favourite, having not conceded a goal in his opening two games for Brazil - the side who are favourites to win it all.

Even though Poland haven't been at their best, Wojicech Szczesny has defied two players from the penalty spot already - including Lionel Messi - and he's arguably the sole reason why his nation are in the last 16, after they narrowly scraped through on goal difference on Wednesday. However, with Poland due to take on current holders France in the next round, his tournament is expected to be cut short.

Meanwhile, England's Jordan Pickford, Netherlands' Andries Noppert and USA's Matt Turner have also all kept two clean sheets during their respective group stage campaigns.

All of the above are in with a good shout of taking the coveted trophy home, but with plenty of goalkeeping talent still on show, we may see some surprises yet.

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