In modern football, the goalkeeper is not just about keeping goals from conceding. Goalkeepers can also be “fierce” like the players in the attacking position or striker. An example is Rogerio Ceni who listed his name as the goalkeeper with the highest number of goals in the history of football.
Career as a footballer with the position of goalkeeper from 1990 to 2015, Ceni has scored a total of 131 goals. However, none of his 131 goals has been scored in the World Cup. For information, Rogerio Ceni was part of the Brazil national team squad in the 2002 and 2006 editions of the World Cup.
Moreover, it is reported that until the last edition of the 2018 World Cup, no goalkeeper had ever scored a goal in normal time or extra time at the FIFA World Cup. However, there is one goalkeeper who almost scored a goal on the World Cup stage. Who is he?
That person is goalkeeper from Paraguay Jose Luis Chilavert. He almost scored a goal when Paraguay meet against Bulgaria in the first match of the Group D phase of the 1998 World Cup. Chilavert got the moment to score when his team was awarded a set piece in the 72nd minute. Unfortunately, the Paraguay captain’s direct free-kick hit the crossbar.
Although, Chilavert could not carve into the first goalkeeper to score in the World Cup, he has another record. Chilavert is currently the second highest-scoring goalkeeper in football history after Rogerio Ceni. He has recorded 67 goals. Eight of his 67 goals were recorded at international level with Paraguay with details of seven goals in World Cup Qualification and one goal in the Copa America.
In addition, there is goalkeeper from Bulgaria. Throughout his career, Ivankov has scored 42 goals. While still being a footballer, Ivankov was a goalkeeper who was very instrumental for his club at that time, Levski Sofia in the mid 1995-2005. He has presented a number of trophies to Levski Sofia for a decade. Then in 2006, Ivankov moved to Turkey, then closed his career in Cyprus in 2011. Hence, during the period 1995-2011, Ivankov is also known as one of the goalkeepers with the highest number of goals in the history of football.
