in 2009 goalkeeping Legends like eer Casas Gian Luigi Buffon and pek were at the absolute primes of their career with Peak athleticism acrobatics and reactions watching them defend the goal at the height of their powers was truly incredible however as legendary as those all-time great goalkeepers were some of you might find it hard to believe that the goalkeeper who took all the attention that year was actually a 40-year-old goalkeeper that's right you didn't hear me wrong a guy who was nearly twice as old as Manuel Neuer at the time would break records left and right
completely stunning football fans throughout the world but for other footballing professionals at the top though as crazy as it sounds they weren't exactly all that surprised after all it only made sense when that old man goalkeeper just happened to be named Edwin vanders at 40 years old he would set a world record for the most time without conceding a single goal an insane 1 , 311 minutes before a football would ever get past him and in case you have a little difficulty comprehending those numbers that resulted in another record-breaking 14 consecutive clean sheets the most
recorded by any goalkeeper in football history in fact that very same season he would maintain a total of 21 clean sheets and become the oldest goalkeeper to ever win the Premier League Golden Glove uefa's goalkeeper of the Year award and Eur Europe's best goalkeeper but that's not even the most surprising thing about vander's career because for those who don't know this might below your mind let's put this into perspective David DEA is Manchester United's most capped goalkeeper staying with the club for an incredible 12 years and well despite how the club did kind of do
him dirty leaving him as a free agent for the entire season until he finally signed with fantina not too long ago at the current age of 34 well Edwin vanders didn't sign with Manchester United and become a red devil until he was at the ripe young age of 35 yeah you heard that right 35 and Sir Alex Ferguson would only spend a total of €2 million for one of the greatest goalkeepers in football history and as cheap as that might sound they actually paid double the price than they really should have because before moving to
man united vanders played with Fulham and he loved that club and their fans so much that instead of his contract running out and man united stealing him for pennies he would decide to sign with the cottage Club just a single season longer for the sole purpose that Fulham could sell him for a higher fee and to get some extra Revenue but if that story doesn't only speak to the character of Edwin vanders it also goes to serve that people only really know him for his time at United but the legendary career of this alltime goalkeeper
goes much much more than just those relatively brief six seasons at United vandar has been a world-class goalkeeper from the very beginning because growing up in the Netherlands a country with one of the highest average heights in the world at around 183 cm or almost 6'1 comparatively even the young vanders was a giant standing at 198 CM or 6'6 with a skinny frame and pale skin tone people would start to give him the nickname of scarecrow but despite being a size that would make the goal look smaller than it actually was he had incredible reflexes
and acrobatic athleticism that's why Louis vangal himself would reach out all the way to his amateur third division Club just to sign him on to ax Because by the age of 22 vanders had already broken into the first team and was regularly appearing as their starting goalkeeper and FAL would trust him so much that he would put vand derar in front of go for their biggest campaigns where Ajax would lift the Champions League title in 1995 and vand derar would win the best goalkeeper in Europe award at just 24 years old the next season he
and Ajax would even make it back to the Champions League final once more and despite losing to Juventus and penalty shootouts vanders was so dominant at defending the goal post that he would be named The Dutch goalkeeper of the year for an insane four consecutive Seasons from 1994 all the way to 1997 in his six seasons as an Undisputed starter for Ajax vanders had already conquered Dutch Football completely winning four air deisy titles three Dutch cups three Dutch super cups and won Champions League title hilariously enough the only achievement left to do as a goalkeeper
was to score a goal which ax would actually let him do as he would score the only goal of his entire career off of a penalty during his last season with club now he was really done with Dutch Football and would take the next step in his career so imagine this in their over 100y year long history Juventus has never once had a non-italian player defending their goal but they were willing to break over a century long tradition all for the 28-year-old vandar and if that's not a testament to how good he was I don't
know what is but ironically his time in Italy would be the only time in his career that his once Untouchable reputation would be questioned because under his two seasons with Carlo angelotti although statistically they had the best defense in the league with by far the least goals conceded they would lose the 1999 2000 serot Title by just a single point with only conceding a total of 20 goals by all means vandar did a fantastic job sure they could have scored more goals to win more matches he did everything he could that being said though juuv
fans would Channel all the blame towards him cuz during the literal final match of the Season vandar would get beat on a volley conceding his 20th goal for the season and allowing Lazio to overtake juuve for the serot title and the very next season they would once more finish runner-ups by just two points and again despite having the best defense in the league being the only Club to concede less than 30 goals vendar would once again take all the blame as he would have another high-profile blunder as his deflection would result in a tie with
Roma allowing Juventus to once again lose the serot title juuve would eventually break transfer records to sign Buffon and vanders would leave Italy with a quote and quote disappointing run although he was basically incredibly solid altogether his Brilliance was overshadowed by those two single moments and many clubs seemingly forgot just how good he could be for goalkeepers especially back then you weren't defined by your Brilliance or consistency but instead your mistakes and even though he also conceded a zero goals for Netherlands in the €2,000 EUR only being eliminated in penalty shootouts in the semifinal against
Italy because of the Dutch penal takers couldn't convert it's like everyone had Amnesia and it forgot just how quality he was that's why instead of joining another massive Club it would sort of come as a surprise that he would sign with a club that had just been newly promoted in the Premier League Fulham they were a much weaker side than vand derar was used to and because they kept getting scored on and finished season after after season near the bottom of the table vandar would slowly move out of the spotlight however he grew to quickly
love the club and its fans saying that they had the nicest and friendliest atmosphere he's ever been around in his career thus far but many who never watched fulam would slowly start to forget about vand derar throughout the years because no matter how good the goalkeeper is prime Oliver Conan noer Buffon Casas lashin you name it without a strong defense or Midfield you're going to get scored on a lot and after four seasons already in his mid-30s vanderark popularity was but a fraction of what it was back in his days at ax but there was
one man who never forgot his quality a man who recognized that it was because of vanders that Fulham would only lose 0 to2 instead of 0 to5 and his name was Sir Alex Ferguson and he understood that even at 35 years old vandar was still world class once more with quality Midfield and defense to support him the chances of a ball ever getting past vand derar was about to get significantly lower and this was also a time when football was shifting to a more televised sport better picture on television more abundant viewings and easier access
to watch for Global fans and now playing for one of the most popular clubs in the world his goalkeeping greatness would really be on display for the first time to many newer and more casual fans because what made the nearly 2 m goalkeeping giant truly hard to score on was a combination of surprising speed reflexes positioning and composure whether it was a point blank or longrange strike for his size his reaction speed was extraordinary and when you see a guy of his size being able to LEAP acrobatically using his full wingspan to cover every corner
of the goal trying to get the ball past vanders was a challenge and as far as Elite athletes come despite his age vanders sar's reaction time was among the best in the world it didn't matter if it was a knuckle ball that was swerving an unintended deflection from a defender's foot or whatever sudden strike was headed his way he had the reflexes to react instantly but without a doubt one of the most underrated parts of vanderark game was his composure if he was being hard pressed by the opposition it didn't matter he could stay calm
and get the ball out of the way and on one-on-one situations you would never see him Panic of course occasionally he would get beat but more often than not he knew exactly what to do plus the way that he could distribute the ball to his Defenders and to some extent even his midfielders directly made Manchester United an even more terrifying Squad as so they could avoid the Press by giving the ball to vanders and he could Advance the ball with his incredible passing but of course his composure was on display most during High Press penalty
situations some people might call Robin Van Percy the Flying Dutchman for his goal against Spain in the 2014 World Cup but just remember The Original Flying Dutchman nickname was born from United fans watching vanders in action but seeing how good at goalkeeping he was you might think he trained all the time but hilariously when he moved to United at 35 his teammates had this to say about him in training and he would come out to training only probably 3 days a week right and I remember on Friday sometimes he would come out he would literally
catch about three or four volleys and even then might not catch him Pat him down and he would sort of squeeze the ball a bit look at the goalie and go that's me done and the goalie coach would go cool and he would just walk in because it was all about Saturday it was all in his head and he just knew what he was doing and no moment is more perfect for showing his goalkeeping ability than in the penalty shootout of the 2008 champions league final where vand derar made the game-winning save against Nicholas anela
once more lifting the Champions League trophy at 38 years old and his time with United would just further continue to pile up his trophy cabinet while United did reach the Champions League final two times more fortunately not even his goalkeeping was enough to hold back a prime pep gordola LED Barcelona and although his 2009 didn't have the champions league as the cherry on top of the cake 21 clean sheets and setting two World Records on top of lifting his third premier league title and winning every goalkeeping award there was is nothing short of legendary and
though he would retire football soon after that Champions League final loss in 2011 he was undoubtedly a massive part of that dominant man united era four Premier League titles three fa cups two League cups and winning the Champions League final with three final appearances along with records that haven't been close to touch is nothing short but expected of an all-time great goalkeeper plus coming out of retirement at 45 for a single match for your Boyhood Club all while still managing to stop a penalty only further adds to the levels of his goalkeeping class so whenever
you talk about the greatest goalkeepers of the game I hope that you won't ever forget that Edwin vanders was a beast
