A Safe Pair of Hands Trivia Quiz

Answer: Egypt

England's Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton, Italy's Gianluigi Buffon and Denmark's Peter Schmeichel are among the big name goalkeepers who played into their forties (Shilton was 48 when he retired!). Essam El-Hadary, then playing for Egyptian side Ismaily, was 45 when he played in goal for Egypt in 2018.

The four-time AFCON winner set a world record that year for being the oldest player to play in a World Cup. However, these keepers are mere spring chickens compared to Israeli goalkeeper Isaak Hayik, who was still playing at the ripe old age of 73! Although playing over the age of forty is rarer for outfield players, a few have managed it, such as Wales and Manchester United's Ryan Giggs, or Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Answer: Bert Trautmann

Although German players are much more common in English football nowadays, with Leroy Sané, Eike Immel, Ilkay Gündogan and Uwe Rösler among the Germans to have played for Manchester City, Bert Trautmann was a controversial signing at the time. As a child, he was a member of the Hitler Youth and later became a paratrooper, and was captured by the British during the Second World War. After being interned in Lancashire, he settled there and worked on a farm while also playing in goal for a local team. Word about Trautmann's reputation as a goalie spread, and he was signed by Manchester City in 1949. As the war was still relatively recent, the signing of a former enemy paratrooper did not go down well and City fans protested. However, Trautmann's performances won fans over, and he made history for City in the 1956 FA Cup final against Birmingham City, when he injured himself while diving at the feet of Peter Murphy. He lasted the whole game and later found out that his neck - which had appeared crooked when he was collecting his medal - was broken.

Trautmann later went into management, and received an OBE for promoting Anglo-German relations. A City fanzine formerly known as 'Electric Blue' had to change its name due to sharing a name with a pornographic magazine, and was renamed 'Bert Trautmann's Helmet'.

Answer: Phil Jagielka

Phil Jagielka is best known as a defender, but during his first time at Sheffield United, he replaced Paddy Kenny in goal on 30 December 2006 against Arsenal when Kenny was injured. Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock said afterwards that he preferred to have extra strikers on the bench rather than a substitute goalkeeper, and Jagielka had played in goal in training, so he seemed an obvious choice. Jagielka himself was nervous due to the size of the opposition, but Warnock's choice paid off; he even managed to make a save against Robin van Persie, and kept a clean sheet. Sheffield United won 1-0.
He had two spells at Sheffield United: 2000-2007 and 2019-2021.
On the other side of the Sheffield divide, David Hirst replaced Kevin Pressman in goal on New Year's Day against Manchester City in 1990, after Pressman was stretchered off with a cruciate ligament injury that sidelined him for several months; despite being hungover and having a broken finger, Hirst proved himself a capable goalie and kept a clean sheet, becoming a rare player who managed to do that AND score in the same game. Seven years later, Andy Booth found himself in goal for Wednesday against Liverpool after Pressman was injured again (this time it was a hamstring), and substitute goalkeeper Matt Clarke was sent off soon after. Booth rose to the occasion and made a few saves, and Wednesday drew 1-1.

Answer: Petr Cech

Petr Èech is a triplet, and this is thought to have been one of the causes of his head injury, due to having a thinner skull. During the match against Reading, Reading's Steven Hunt collided with Èech's head, resulting in a depressed skull fracture; Èech was taken to hospital to undergo surgery, while Carlo Cudicini replaced him in goal (and John Terry replaced Cudicini after Cudicini was knocked out). Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was furious, as Èech's injury could have potentially killed him, and other goalkeepers called for better protection for goalkeepers during games. Èech consequently suffered from headaches and had to take time out to recover and, when he came back, he had to wear a rugby-style helmet for the rest of his footballing career, as he was not insured to play without it.

Èech, a huge fan of ice hockey, later donned another kind of helmet when he joined Guildford Phoenix as a goaltender in 2019. He impressed on his debut in October that year, making several saves. He wore the number 39 on his shirt as a tribute to Czech goaltender Dominik Hasek of Buffalo Sabres.

Answer: They have all scored goals.

Peter Schmeichel was a large and intimidating presence between the sticks for Manchester United for many seasons (1991-1999), and not only did he save goals, he also scored them. He had previously scored goals for Brøndby and Hridovre in his homeland and, at United, it was not unusual for him to come up for a set piece. He scored a header against Rotor Volgograd in the UEFA Cup in 1995, although United went out on aggregate.

Alisson Becker scored his first outfield goal for Liverpool against West Bromwich Albion on 16 May 2021, when he headed the ball in at the 95th minute. Alisson made history by not only being the first goalkeeper to score in a game for Liverpool, but also by being the first goalkeeper to score a winning Premier League match goal. The emotional goalie dedicated the goal to his father, who had died a few months earlier.

Kevin Pressman, who has said that taking a penalty was 'basically a goal kick' and that he wanted to experience penalties from the other side, scored a powerful penalty for Sheffield Wednesday against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1995, although it didn't stop Wednesday from being knocked out. He also scored the winning penalty against Watford in a 1998 FA Cup game.

René Higuita, he of the scorpion kick save, scored multiple goals at various clubs, including a massive 11 goals at Colombian team Independiente Medellín. He was also a regular set piece taker, and considered to be one of the first 'sweeper keepers' due to coming off his line and acting like an outfield player.

Tim Howard's goal for Everton against Bolton Wanderers in 2012 was a freak accident! He had the weather on his side when he took his goal kick; with the help of strong winds, the ball bounced into the Bolton goal before Adam Bogdan could save it.

José Luis Chilavert is one of football's most prolific goalscoring goalkeepers, along with Brazil's Rogerio Ceni (who scored 131 goals), with 67 goals during his time as a player. He is also one of the tiny number of goalkeepers to have scored a hat trick. When he played in Argentina for Vélez Sarsfield against River Plate, both he and River Plate keeper Roberto Bonano scored in the match.

Answer: True

Yes, Julio Iglesias could have been up there with the likes of Iker Casillas, Andoni Zubizarreta and David de Gea! While he was studying law in Madrid, he played for Real Madrid's reserve team, Real Madrid Castillas. Unfortunately, Iglesias' football career was stymied by a car accident in 1963, which damaged his legs and lower back and left him unable to walk for two years. A nurse gave him a guitar while in hospital to help him regain dexterity in his fingers, and set him on his new career path.

Other non-sporting celebrities who played in goal in their youth include writer and conspiracy theorist David Icke, writer and philosopher Albert Camus, and Karol Józef Wojty³a, better known as Pope John Paul II. (Incidentally, there is another Spanish goalkeeper called Julio Iglesias, though this one remained in the game and started out at Barcelona's B team.)

Answer: 1994

Although the Golden Glove is thought to have dated back to 1938, with Uruguay's Enrique Ballestrero supposedly being the first winner, the award was officially introduced at the 1994 World Cup, when it was awarded to Belgium's Michel Preud'homme. It was originally named after the Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin, considered to be one of the greatest goalies of all time and, in 1963, the first goalkeeper to win the annual Ballon d'Or Award. Other World Cup Golden Glove winners have included Germany's Oliver Kahn and Manuel Neuer, Spain's Iker Casillas, and France's Fabien Barthez.

The Women's World Cup also introduced the Best Goalkeeper Award in 1999, with China's Gao Hong and the USA's Brianna Scurry sharing the honour; subsequent winners have included the USA's Hope Solo, the Netherlands' Sari van Veenendaal and Germany's Silke Rottenberg and Nadine Angerer.

Answer: Wolverhampton Wanderers

While the likes of Chelsea's Dimitri Kharine, England and Sheffield Wednesday's Chris Woods and Manchester City's Martyn Margetson went on to become goalkeeping coaches after their playing careers ended, Nuno went one better and became a manager instead. As a player (1992-2010), his clubs included Deportivo La Coruña, Dynamo Moscow and Porto; as a manager, he got Portuguese club Rio Ave into the Europa League in 2014 for the first time in their history. He also managed Valencia and Porto before joining Wolves as their head coach in 2017, and led them to promotion back into the Premier League after a six-year hiatus. In 2019, Wolves qualified for the Europa League; the last time they had been in Europe was in the 1980-81 season.

Nuno left Wolves by mutual consent in 2021 and went on to manage Tottenham Hotspur after the sacking of fellow countryman Jose Mourinho. Unfortunately, Nuno was the club's eighth choice and, after a good start, had a poor run which culminated in him being sacked in November 2021 and replaced by Antonio Conte.

Answer: Trying to keep the ball out.

When Iran were drawn against the USA in the 1998 World Cup, a match that attracted controversy, Keller said that he wasn't afraid of any trouble because he had previously spent four years in goal at the Den, Millwall's home ground and a place notorious for hooliganism. He represented his homeland in four World Cups (1990, 1998, 2002 and 2006) and, by the end of his career, was also the first American goalkeeper to become a regular in Spain's La Liga (for Ray Vallecano), the German Bundesliga (for Borussia Mönchengladbach) and the English Football League (for Millwall, Fulham and Leicester City). He also made headlines in 1998 when he made several saves against Brazil, a match which the USA won 1-0. Brazil's Romário was impressed, saying it was the best performance by a goalkeeper he'd ever seen.

Other American goalkeepers who have played in the UK include Everton's Tim Howard, Aston Villa's Brad Guzan, Blackburn Rovers' Brad Friedel, and Manchester City Women's Karen Bardsley (although she played for England, due to having English parents).

Answer: David Seaman

Davids James and Seaman both played in goal for England; James was capped 53 times, while Seaman was capped 75 times. James started out at Watford, but it was at Liverpool where he made his name. On the seventeenth series of "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2019, he was partnered with Ukrainian dancer Nadiya Bychkova and was eliminated in Week 5 after performing a jive (and also scored very badly in the foxtrot and paso doble). James wasn't the only footballer on the show - Alex Scott, formerly of Arsenal Women, was another contender and lasted much longer, going out in Week 11.

David Seaman, meanwhile, began his career at Leeds United in 1981, and later spent thirteen years (1990-2003) between the sticks at Arsenal. He appeared on the first series of "Dancing on Ice" in 2006, when he was partnered with Scottish ice dancing champion Pam O'Connor and came fourth. He returned for the All-Stars series in 2014, where he was partnered with his girlfriend, English skater Frankie Poultney (who had partnered Manchester United's Lee Sharpe in the second series); the two were engaged and got married the following year.