Unai Simón has won the 2026 Yashin Trophy, the Ballon d'Or award for goalkeepers, two years after missing out on the honor to Argentina's Emiliano "Dibu" Martínez. The Athletic Club and Spain goalkeeper received the award after a year in which he helped Spain win the World Cup, having also previously lifted the European Championship and Nations League with the national side.
In 2024, Simón finished runner-up to Martínez, who collected 276 points to his 213 despite Simón having won the European Championship with Spain and the Copa del Rey with Athletic that year. Martínez had also won the Yashin Trophy in 2023, ahead of Ederson and Bono, and was the best goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where he saved penalties from Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis against the Netherlands and later stopped Kingsley Coman's spot kick in the final. France Football did not nominate Simón for the award last year.
Simón conceded just one goal throughout the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, against Belgium in the quarterfinals, and was given the tournament's Golden Glove as its best goalkeeper. He also set the record for the longest shutout streak in World Cup history, going 650 minutes across seven matches without conceding, surpassing Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga's previous mark of 517 minutes.
"It's an honor to be on that list alongside such great goalkeepers. It's recognition of the work we do at Athletic and at Lezama," Simón said after setting the record.
The goalkeeper from Murgia also won the Zamora Trophy for the best goalkeeper in LaLiga in the 2023-24 season and is Athletic's most capped international player with 69 appearances for Spain, a record of 46 wins, 19 draws and four defeats. He still trails Iker Casillas (167 caps), Andoni Zubizarreta (126) and Luis Arconada (68) in the all-time list for Spain.
Simón attended the ceremony in London with Athletic president Jon Uriarte, director of soccer Mikel González and members of his family. Club great José Ángel Iribar, Simón's idol, was unable to attend despite wanting to be there.
Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde's successor, Terzic, was asked before the ceremony whether he considered Simón among the best goalkeepers in the world. "There may be others at his level, but there's nobody above him," he said. Speaking after Athletic's win over Getafe, Terzic added: "I don't need a trophy to show how much I appreciate him. For me, the most important thing isn't the trophy, but Unai's golden hands. And we have those hands in our team. We believe he deserves it more than ever. But that doesn't change how much I value him, both for his performances as a goalkeeper and for the person he is."
Simón said he was "very proud" of his nomination and admitted that after being shortlisted two years earlier he "thought I'd never have another chance" to compete for the trophy. He said his success is also "recognition of the work of many international players and what we do at Lezama."
A crowded field of contenders
Simón finished ahead of fellow Spanish internationals David Raya and Joan García, along with Martínez, Belgium's Thibaut Courtois, Cape Verde's Vozinha, Morocco's Yassine Bounou, Senegal's Édouard Mendy and Switzerland's Gregor Kobel. According to the report, the rival Simón was most concerned about was Russia's Matvey Safonov, given his Champions League triumph with PSG.
Accepting the award, an emotional Simón said: "It's an honor. When you're a kid, you never imagine you'll get this far. I certainly didn't. You move forward step by step, and as the seasons go by and you achieve different things, you find yourself in situations like this. It's something to be proud of. Right now, I don't fully appreciate what it means, but as with everything, including the World Cup, I know I will with the passage of time."
Iribar, asked about his potential successor, said: "These days, he's mastered an incredibly difficult aspect of the position, which is being a soccer player as well as a goalkeeper. I think he's considerably better than I was." Simón has already surpassed Iribar's 49 caps for Spain, a mark he overtook during the most recent Nations League finals.
