What unites Ghanaian Benjamin Asare, Ivorian Yahya Fofana, Japanese Zion Suzuki and Senegalese Edward Mendy?
They are All Black goalkeepers, although no one wants to be in goal early in their careers. These two words have never been combined in the history of football. The game has produced elite black strikers, wingers and defenders, but a black goalkeeper is a rare commodity.
This World Cup has especially challenged perceptions. Statistics confirm. Six of the 20 goalkeepers with the highest save percentages so far at the tournament are black – a dramatic increase from the corresponding figure of just one in 20 at the 2022 World Cup. On raw saves, six of the top 20 are black goalkeepers, compared to just two four years ago. Disallowed goals tell a similar story: six in the top 20 this summer, just one in Qatar.
The rarity stems from decades of prejudice. Beginning with ‘The Curse of Moassir Barbosa’. Among the best goalkeepers of his generation, Barbosa led Brazil to the 1949 Copa America. Then in the 1950 World Cup. The Selecao needed only a draw against Uruguay to win the World Cup for the first time in their history. But Barbosa misjudged Alcides Ghigia’s shot and conceded a goal that arguably should have been saved. A whisper was heard at the Maracana.
Barbosa died 50 years later, virtually disgraced and disgraced. A few months before his death, he would lament: “According to Brazilian law, the maximum sentence is 30 years. But I have been paying for the crime I committed for 50 years.” In a cosmopolitan nation that produced football’s Pele, Jairzinho, Romario, Ronaldinho and countless other black icons, only two black goalkeepers — Manga and Dida — would start a World Cup in the next 76 years.
Researchers have examined football’s positional imbalance through a concept known as ‘stacking’ – the phenomenon of racial stereotypes influencing a player’s position.
Also read | How four little-known goalkeepers became potential stars of the 2026 World Cup
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A 2022 study by sports researchers Pascal Delhey, Jeroen Scherder and Jens de Koninck, published in the International Review for the Sport of Sociology, reflects a long-held belief in the game — that black footballers are encouraged to play in positions that demand speed and athleticism, such as on the wing, but do not require leadership and goal-judging.
Prior to 2026, France had never reached a World Cup with a black first-choice goalkeeper until Mike Mignon. Steve Mandanda has played in the tournament, but has always been a Hugo Lloris understudy. Maignan, however, is changing the boundaries. Born to a Haitian mother and Guadeloupe father, he honed his skills at the Paris Saint-Germain Academy. As first choice at AC Milan, and now for France, Maignan’s has been one of the biggest successes.
The AC Milan custodian once walked out of a Serie A game after being racially abused by an Udinese fan. Addressing the incident, he wrote on X: “It’s not the player who got attacked. He’s a man, he’s a father. It’s not the first time this has happened to me and I’m not the first person. We’ve had statements, campaigns, protocols and nothing changed. Today it’s the whole system that has to take responsibility.”
Senegalese Mendy is one of the few black goalkeepers to win the UEFA Champions League. “It (racial abuse) has happened to me many times. There are few of us (African goalkeepers). That’s why as an African goalkeeper in the Premier League, I have to do my best to break stereotypes and make way for others,” he had said.
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Japan’s Xion Suzuki turned off his Instagram comments after the 2-1 defeat by Iraq in the AFC Asian Cup. His DMs were filled with racial abuse. “I know I’m being criticized, but I want people to stop writing racist things. I’m not going to let it break me,” he said. DR Congo’s Lionel Mpasi made a similar tackle during a match against Toulouse in 2021.
Benjamin Asare still plays his club football in Ghana and has had to do many odd jobs throughout his career. Bus conductor. Mason. Seller of polythene bags. Steel bender.
Mendy was unemployed at 22, queuing outside a job center in Le Havre. Once a teammate of French No. 1 Mike Mignon at Paris Saint-Germain, MPC found no customers and had to work as a school supervisor. Cape Verde’s Vozinha and Haiti’s Johnny Placide are free agents and can only hope that their World Cup will save them from unemployment. Curacao’s Eloy Room faces similar uncertainty, with his contract set to expire in November.
Normal men, by every measure. Except, they’re doing a fantastic job of punching one of football’s oldest typecasts.