Top Goalkeepers in 2021 Africa Cup of Nations

The goalkeeper has a key role in football. They are the last man on the field who are able to prevent a goal from being scored if the players in front of them have failed to do so. The African continent has produced some great goalkeeping talent in the history of football, from the Egyptian legend Essam El-Hadary to the Cameroonian Thomas N'Kono and his fierce rival in the national team Joseph-Antoine Bell; the black continent has always had excellent goalkeepers.

On the occasion of the 2021 African Cup of Nations, which is now being held in Cameroon, we have decided to take a look into the team squads of this year’s African Cup of Nation and reveal the best goalkeepers who took part in Cameroon, defending their goals.

Best Goalkeepers of 2021 Africa Cup of Nation

In this edition of the African Cup of Nations, there have been some revelations in the goalkeeping area. Mohamed Kamara, the goalkeeper of the Sierra Leone team, could be a great example of them, which was the star of his team in the tournament, showing great performances, especially in their match against Algeria, where he had seven great saves and a clean sheet.

This 22-year-old goalkeeper of the East End Lions, a club from Freetown (capital of Sierra Leone), pulled off several great saves in his own style, was named the game's Most Valuable Player, and his tears in the post-match interview went viral around the world.

Besides the specific case and the romantic story of Kamara, his outstanding performance is part of a trend that now seems to be consolidated: African goalkeepers, following years of transversal underestimation (also due to a whole series of smelly racist stereotypes), are beginning to gain an important dimension at international level. Stay tuned as in the following; we are going to introduce the best and top goalkeepers in the 2021

.

Bechir Ben Said – Tunisia

One of the good players of the Tunisian national football team in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, Bechir Ben Said, started his football in his home country in 2014, playing for the AS Gabès. However, he went on to play only 18 matches for the club over four, as he was not deemed as the first-choice goalkeeper of the team. However, it was in 2018 that he decided to change his club and signed for another Tunisian club, US Monastir.

While in his first season at the club, he played only five matches in the league and cup; it was in the following season that he became the starting goalkeeper for the team. Since then, he has played a total of 73 matches in all competitions. Following some good performances on the club level, Bechir Ben Said was able to convince Mondher Kebaier, the Tunisian national team manager, to call him up to the national team.

While he was part of the team in the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup, but he failed to play a single match in there. Later on, he was selected in Tunisia's national team for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and was once again deemed as a backup goalkeeper. However, to the surprise of many, he made his debut for the national team in Tunisia's opening match in the 2021 African Cup of Nations, playing the whole 90 minutes against Mali, a match that they lost 0-1.

In his second appearance for the national team, Bechir Ben Said was able to make a clean sheet in the convincing 4-0 win against

. After losing their third match against The Gambia and advancing to the next round as one of the best third-placed teams, Bechir had his second clean sheet in their 1-0 Round of 16 win against Nigeria. In total, Bechir Ben Said played in five matches, making two clean sheets.

While

failed to go further than the quarter-finals in the tournament, but they have a good place in the African national teams rankings 2021, in part thanks to Bechir's performances.

Jesús Owono - Equatorial Guinea

The young and talented goalkeeper of the Equatorial Guinea national football team is the next player in our list of best 2021 African Cup of Nations goalkeepers. He started playing youth level football when he was eight years old in Spain. After playing for several Spanish clubs on the youth level, Jesus finally made his senior-level debut in 2019, playing for San Ignacio.

Since 2021, he has signed for the Deportivo Alaves club. On the international level, he has played for the Basque Country U16 national team during his youth days. However, he later decided to play for the Equatorial Guinea national football team and finally made his debut for the African country in a friendly match against the Saudi Arabian national team.

After being selected for the national team to compete in the 2021 African Cup of Nations, he had to sit out on the bench as the head coach of the team preferred to field Manuel Sapunga as the goalkeeper of the team in their opener match against Ivory Coast, which they lost 0-1. However, Jesus Owono was picked as the goalkeeper of the Equatorial Guinea national football team in the second group stage match against

, a match that he made a clean sheet and the team won 0-1.

Once again, in the line-up for the third group stage match against Sierra Leone, he played for the whole 90 minutes and was able to make his second consecutive clean sheet as they won the match 0-1. After finishing second in their group with six points, they advanced to the Round of 16, in a match they played against

. Jesús Owono had his third consecutive clean sheet in that match, establishing himself as one of the most talented young African goalkeepers.

Jesus was the star of his team in the penalty shootouts, too and managed to save two of Malian players' penalty kicks. In the quarter-finals, Jesus Owono played his fourth and last match against Senegal, in which they lost 3-1 against the African giants. Many pundits believe that in the coming years, we are going to hear more about Jesus Owono.

Aly Keita - Guinea

Born of a Guinean father from Dabola and a Swedish mother, Keita started his career at Skiljebo SK before transferring to Syrianska IF in 2007. He left Syrianska just before the 2012 season and was given a free transfer to Västerås SK. He subsequently joined Östersunds in 2014. During the 2017 season, Aly Keita won the Swedish Cup. He made his debut in the Europa League in the same year.

Originally from Guinea, the Guinean football federation, in the context of the new reforms undertaken by its president Mamadou Antonio Souaré, undertook an offensive to attract and negotiate players with dual nationality in order to establish a competitive team, with an eye on qualifying for the 2019 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. In April 2018, Aly Keita, defender Ernest Seka (Racing Club Strasbourg Alsace, D1 France) and Ibrahima Cissé (Fulham, D2 England) agreed to join the Guinean team.

He debuted for the national team in the Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against

on 12 October 2018. In the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Aly Keita only played the opening match against Madagascar, which finished in a 2-2 draw. He was selected by coach Kaba Diawara in January 2022 to participate in the 2021 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

As Guinea's first-choice goalkeeper in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, Aly Keita played in all of his team's matches. In the first group stage match, he managed to make a clean sheet in his team's 1-0 win over Malawi. He was able to repeat the feat and win his second consecutive clean sheet in the 0-0 draw against

.

With four points in three Group B matches, Aly Keita finished second in their group and made it to the Round of 16. In that stage, they had to face the Gambia, in which they suffered a 0-1 defeat and thus knocked out of the 2022 African Cup of Nations. With two clean sheets in four matches, Keita was one of the good goalkeepers in the tournament.

Ibrahim Mounkoro – Mali

Ibrahim Munkoro started playing football for the Malian club Korofina in 2008, where he remained until 2011. At the beginning of the 2011-2012 season, Munkoro joined the club Stade Malien, where he was twice champion of Mali in three seasons and also won the Mali Cup once. He became a player of the DR Congo team "TP Mazembe" in 2014. He was four times champion of the DR Congo league as a member of the club from Lubumbashi.

Ibrahim Munkoro played his first match for the Mali national team in a friendly against Algeria in 2019. He was a member of the national team for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, but he did not play. His second match for the team was against

in the qualifying round for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, in which they qualified for the tournament in

, and he was included in the national team selection to play there.

Ibrahim Munkoro played his first match in the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon on 12 January 2022, in their opening match in Group F against Tunisia, a match that they managed to win 0-1 and in which he was able to win his first clean sheet in the tournament. In their second match, the Malian team had to face the Gambia four days later. That match finished in a 1-1 draw.

In their last match, which was seen as an easy encounter against Mauritania, Ibrahim Munkoro and his teammates were able to clinch a 2-0 win, with the goalkeeper winning his second clean sheet in the tournament. In their Round of 16 match in the 2021 African Cup of Nations, the Mali national team played against Equatorial Guinea, where the match ended in a goalless draw after 120 minutes. Although Mounkoro won his third clean sheet in the tournament, but they lost 6-5 on penalties to Equatorial Guinea and thus was eliminated from the tournament.

Ali Abdallah Abu-Eshrein – Sudan

Abu-Eshrein is another of the top goalkeepers in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, who put on some good performances in this year's tournament. He started his professional career in the 2009/10 season playing for Sudanese club Al Nusur; having spent 6 seasons for Al Nusra, he transferred to Al Amir in the 2016/17 season. After just one season with Al Ameer, he played for Atbara and Al Shurtah. Ali Abdallah Abu-Eshrein transferred from Al Mirikh to Sudanese club Al Hilal in the 2020/21 season.

Abu-Eshrein played his international debut for Sudan on 5 September 2019, at the age of 29 years, 6 months and 30 days, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Chad. He wore the No. 1 jersey in the match. That match was won by Sudan 3: 1. In his first year for Sudan, Ali played a total of six matches. He was selected by the Sudanese national team head coach to play in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

In his first match in the tournament, which was Sudan's opening game in Group D, they played against Guinea-Bissau, which finished in a goalless draw. In doing so, Abu-Eshrein managed to make a clean sheet in his first match at the 2021 African Cup of Nations. Four days later, the Sudanese national team and Abu-Eshrein had to play against

, one of the strongest teams of the tournament. It wasn't a good day for Abu-Eshrein, as he conceded three goals, and the match finished in a 3-1 defeat for them.

Their third group stage match was against another top African team. In that match against

, Ali Abdallah Abu-Eshrein started the game but had to get out of the pitch in the 46th minute because of an injury. At that time, the scoreline was 0-0, and thus it was recorded as another clean sheet for the goalkeeper. The match ended 0-1 for Egypt, and as a result, the Sudanese national team was eliminated from the tournament.

Baboucarr Gaye – The Gambia

He is yet another young footballer to appear in our list of top goalkeepers in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and probably the least expensive goalkeeper, with a total market value of 75,000 euros. He started out in the youth team at Arminia Bielefeld in 2007 when he was nine years old. Gaye stayed in the North Rhine-Westphalia club's youth team until 2017, before being promoted to the B team and then to the first team, where he failed to appear in any official matches as the team's third-choice goalkeeper. For the reserves team, Garr took the field 13 times.

Arminia terminated the contract of the goalkeeper, who remained unused in the previous season, in June 2019. He then signed for Regionalliga West club Wattenscheid on 21 July, playing 8 games there. He joined Stuttgart in January 2020 to be part of the reserve team but failed to play any games and was released at the end of the season, and in July of the same year, he was signed by Rot-Weiß Koblenz, a team in the Regionalliga Südwest.

Gaye, who was born in Bielefeld, decided to play for the Gambia, the country of his birth. He made his debut for the Scorpions in March 2018 in friendly matches against the Moroccan U-20 team and the Central African Republic, but these matches were not counted as official matches. His first appearance at the official level was against Congo in October 2020, and he received a call-up to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, having started as a reserve for Modou Jobe.

After Modou Jobe played the first two matches of the Gambian team in group F of the tournament, Baboucarr Gaye had the opportunity to play his first African Cup of Nations match in his team's third group stage match, in which they won 1-0 and Baboucarr Gaye made a clean sheet in his debut match. In the Round of 16 match against Guinea, he also played the full match and made another clean sheet as they won 1-0.

However, in the quarter-final match against Cameroon, they were defeated 0-2 and was knocked out of the competition. He is definitely one of the best players at AFCON 2022, who surprised many with his good performances.

Seny Dieng - Senegal

Seny Dieng is the next goalie in our list of top goalkeepers in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, who was able to play two matches in this year's Africa Cup of Nations because Senegal's first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy had tested positive for Covid-19 just before the start of the tournament. Seny Dieng started his football in his boyhood club Red Star Zürich when he was 15 years old in a local derby against FC Seefeld in the 2nd Division Interregional. He came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute after regular goalkeeper Fabrizio Elsener had seen the red card.

When he was 16 years old, Dieng joined the reserve team (U21) of Grasshopper Club Zurich. He made his first appearance in the 1st division a week before his 18th birthday on loan at FC Grenchen in a 4-1 win - against his actual team, Grasshopper Club Zürich. He then returned to Grasshoppers there four months later, also making his first of 41 appearances. He did not feature more often in competitive matches for any other team until the 2021 summer break.

Between July 2013 and December 2015, Dieng also made 18 substitute appearances for the Grasshopper Club Zurich 1st team in the Super League. In February 2016, he then moved to MSV Duisburg on a free transfer. He played twice for the reserve team in the Oberliga Niederrhein during the spring and once for the 1st team in the 2nd Bundesliga on the substitutes' bench.

As early as August of the same year, Dieng transferred to Queens Park Rangers in London. He was loaned out from there to Whitehawk FC, Stevenage FC, Dundee FC and Doncaster Rovers in the following years, getting game time in League Two, the Scottish Premiership and League One before becoming Queens Park Rangers' number one goalkeeper in the Championship in the 2020/21 season.

Dieng's first call-up to the Senegal national team was during his time with Grasshopper Club Zurich's U21s at a friendly match against

. He would not then make his first appearance until March 2021 in an Africa Cup qualifier against Eswatini at the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor. He was called up to the Senegal national team for the 2021 African Cup of Nations to be played in Cameroon.

While Edouard Mendy was seen as the first goalkeeper of the national team, he was tested positive for Covid-19 and thus had to miss out on Senegal's first matches in the tournament. As a result, Seny Dieng had the chance to play for his national team. In his first match against Zimbabwe, Dieng made a clean shot as they won the match 1-0. In their second match against Guinea, Dieng made another clean sheet in the 0-0 match.

Hervé Koffi - Burkina Faso

Despite his young age, Hervé Koffi is amongst the most experienced footballers in our list of top goalkeepers in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, with 38 international matches with just 25 years of age. Hervé Koffi started playing football with Rahimo FC before moving to Racing Club de Bobo. He won the Burkina Faso championship with RCB and was named the best goalkeeper of the season.

Following his brilliant African Cup of Nations, where he finished in third place with Burkina Faso, he moved to ASEC Mimosas in Abidjan. He started as the third goalkeeper and became a regular in his first season. He participated in the African Champions League with ASEC Mimosas and then signed a five-year contract with Lille OSC.

Arriving as the second choice goalkeeper behind Mike Maignan, he benefited from the latter's suspension to start for the first time with LOSC on the third day of the league against SM Caen (2-0 defeat). Belenenses SAD announced the loan of Hervé Koffi on 7 July 2019. In the following season, he was loaned again, this time to Belgian club Royal Excel Mouscron, a partner club of LOSC.

Koffi had a great season during his loan period in Mouscron and was considered as one of the best players of the season despite the club's decline. At the end of the season, he returns to Lille. On 6 July 2021, Hervé Koffi joined Sporting de Charleroi for three seasons with an option for another season.

For the Burkina Faso first national team, he played his debut on 26 March 2016 in a 1-0 win against Uganda. For the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, Herve Koffi was called up to the national team. He featured in all of their group stage matches. He also played in the other matches of the Burkinis in the tournament. In the semi-finals, the Stallions drew with Egypt but were knocked out after a series of penalty kicks. One of the penalties was wasted by Koffi, whose shot was saved by Essam El-Hadary. In the end, Burkina Faso finished third.

He was called up to play in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. Koffi played in the opening match against the host nation Cameroon, and the match ended in a 1-2 defeat. In the next match against Cape Verde, Koffi made a clean sheet and the team won 1-0. He was not in the squad for the third group match, but was again the goalkeeper of the Burkina Faso team in the Round of 16 match against Gabon, which they won 8-7 on penalties.

As the captain of the national team in the quarter-final match against Tunisia, Herve Koffi made another clean sheet and helped his team win 1-0 and make it to the semi-final match, which they are going to play against Senegal. He is definitely one of the best players at AFCON 2022.

Maduka Okoye - Nigeria

Maduka Okoye is one of the top five most valuable goalkeepers in this year's tournament and also amongst the best in our list of top goalkeepers in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. He started playing football at the Düsseldorf district club SC Flingern 08, first as a striker, then as a goalkeeper. He was trained in the youth academies of Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer 04 Leverkusen for eight years.

The goalkeeper moved to Fortuna Düsseldorf when he was 18, and he played in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga, but also played his first games for the Regionalliga team. In the 2018/19 season, he became a regular member of the team, where he alternated with Jannick Theißen and Mario Zelic in goal. On matchday 22 of the following season, Okoye made his debut in the Bundesliga squad under head coach Uwe Rösler as a backup for Florian Kastenmeier.

He moved to Dutch first division side Sparta Rotterdam for the 2020/21 season on a two-year contract with an option for a further two years. From matchday 7, he replaced Benjamin van Leer as "number 1" and made the remaining 28 league appearances. He was signed by Premier League side Watford FC in November 2021 until 30 June 2027; however, he would remain on loan at Sparta Rotterdam until the end of the 2021/22 season.

Maduka Okoye was first called up to the Nigeria national team in August 2019 by coach Gernot Rohr. He earned his first cap in that match, against Brazil, when he came on in place of Francis Uzoho, who was out injured. Both teams played to a draw on that day. Okoye was selected by coach Gernot Rohr for the African Cup of Nations in December 2021.

He played his first match in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations against Egypt on 11 January 2022, where they managed to defeat Carlos Queiroz' side with a score of 1-0. In their second match, Okoye and Nigeria clinched a 3-1 win against Sudan, thus ensuring their place in the Round of 16. In the third group stage match of Nigeria against Guinea-Bissau, Maduka Okoye was on the bench.

For the Round of 16 match against Tunisia, he was once again in the starting line-up, a match that he played the full 90 minutes and the Super Eagles suffered a 0-1 defeat and thus was knocked out of the 2021 African Cup of Nations.

Mohamed El Shenawy - Egypt

As a 33-years old footballer, Mohamed El Shenawy is one of the most experienced goalies in our list of top goalkeepers in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. He took his very first steps in football in the youth ranks of Al-Ahly. He debuted in the first team on 6 May 2008 against ENPPI. Relegated to fourth choice goalkeeper behind Ramzi Saleh, Amir Abdelhamid and Ahmed Adel - on 26 June 2009, he agreed to a three-season deal with El Geish.

He signed a three-year deal with Petrojet on 4 August 2013. He returned to Al-Ahly on 10 July 2016, signing a contract valid for five seasons. He started as a second-choice in El-Badry's hierarchy, but the next season - because of several mistakes made by his colleague Ekramy - he succeeded in earning the starting ranks. He achieved a historic treble in 2020, winning the league, domestic cup and the CAF Champions League.

He was repeatedly called up - frequently to make up for any injuries of the other goalkeepers in the squad - to the national team by coach Héctor Cúper, and assisted his teammates from the bench. He debuted with the Pharaohs on 23 March 2018 in Portugal-Egypt (2-1), in a friendly in the run-up to the

.

He was selected as one of the 23 players called up for the 2018 World Cup and participated in the first two games of the group stage against Uruguay and Russia, before being replaced by El-Hadary against Saudi Arabia, the game that resulted in the Egyptians' exclusion from the World Cup. He cemented his role as the Egyptian national team's number one in 2018, as he became its starting goalkeeper.

He was called up by Carlos Queiroz to play in the 2021 African Cup of Nations. He played the first match of the Egyptian national team against Nigeria, and they lost the match 0-1 to the Super Eagles. However, El Shenawy and his teammates were able to win their next two matches against Guinea-Bissau and Sudan, both with one goal to zero, thus he made two clean sheets in the group stage.

In the Round of 16, Egypt had to face

, a match that finished in a goalless draw after 120 minutes and the Egyptians won penalties 4-5. In that match, Mohamed El Shenawy made his third consecutive clean sheet in the 2021 African Cup of Nations. In his team's 2-1 win at the extra time against Morocco, he was not in the squad.

Yassine Bounou - Morocco

The next player in our list of top goalkeepers in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations is Yassine Bounou, also known as Bono, who has been the first choice goalie of Morocco national team and his club Sevilla in the last few years and proved to be one of the best players at AFCON 2022. Bounou was born in Montreal, Canada, and migrated to Morocco at a young age. He spent his youth with Wydad Casablanca, for whom he debuted in the first team in 2011.

The goalkeeper was sold to Atlético Madrid in 2012, and played two seasons in the second team. He was loaned to Real Zaragoza during the 2014/15 season, making his debut in the Segunda División against Las Palmas on 11 January 2015. He did not concede a single goal in the following five matches. He ended the 2014/15 season with nineteen league games to his credit. The next season, the Moroccan international was again loaned to Real Zaragoza.

Bounou signed a five-year contract in 2016 with Girona, which at the time played in the Segunda División. The team was promoted to the Primera División for the first time in Girona's club history in his first season. He ended the 2017/18 season with the club in a fine tenth place. Bounou continued to impress with good play in the 2018/19 season and went on to sign a loan deal with Sevilla the following season. Bounou won the UEFA Europa League with Sevilla on 21 August 2020 by beating Inter Milan in the final 3-2.

As a dual Canadian and Moroccan national, he was first called up by Rachid Taoussi, former coach of the Atlas Lions, for a friendly match against Burkina Faso which ended in defeat (1-2). He has been the second goalkeeper of the Moroccan national team after Munir since the arrival of Hervé Renard in early 2016. Having had an excellent 2018-2019 season, Bono established himself as the Moroccan national team's first-choice keeper for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

After making it to the round of 16 at the 2019 CAN, Renard was dismissed and replaced by Vahid Halilhodžić. The Bosnian coach appointed Bounou as his number one goalkeeper, in part due to his performances at club level with Sevilla FC. In the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the Moroccan team was among the nations with the best defence, having conceded only one goal in the group matches against Mauritania, Burundi and the Central African Republic.

Yassine Bounou has been the goalkeeper in every game for the Atlas Lions. Moroccan team finished their qualifying campaign in first place in the group and officially secured their place at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations. He was officially included in Vahid Halilhodžić's list of 28 players picked for the 2022 CAN in Cameroon on 23 December 2021.

Other than the third group stage match against Gabon where he was on the bench, Bono played the first two group matches against Ghana and Comoros, making a clean sheet on both occasions. It was in his absence that the team conceded two goals against Gabon and the match ended 2-2. In the Round of 16 and quarter-final matches against Malawi and Egypt he was on the pitch, conceding one goal against Malawi (2-1 win) and two against Egypt (2-1 defeat), which resulted in their elimination from the competition.

André Onana - Cameroon

The next goalie in this list of top goalkeepers in 2021 Africa Cup of Nations is the star player of the host nation Cameroon. Many believe he can get a place in the AFCON best team 2022. Onana began his career in Cameroon, at the Samuel Eto'o Academy, a football school of the same name. He was signed in 2010 by Barcelona, who brought him into their youth academy. He signed with Ajax on 14 January 2015, who added him to their reserve squad, with a contract until 2018. He debuted with Jong Ajax in the Eerste Divisie the following month.

His first-team debut came on 20 August 2016, in the Eredivisie match against Willem II. Following the transfer of Jasper Cillessen to Barcelona in the summer of 2016, he became the starting goalkeeper of the Lancers. During the 2018-2019 season, he played a key role in winning the league and the domestic cup, in addition to contributing to the Champions League semi-final. He won the domestic Super Cup at the beginning of the following season, beating PSV 2-0.

He won another league and national cup in the 2020-2021 season, though he only played until January. In fact, on 5 February 2021, he was banned for one year by UEFA for testing positive for furosemide after a doping test on 30 October 2020.

He made his senior national team debut for Cameroon on 6 September 2016, in the friendly against Gabon. He participated in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, in which Cameroon was eliminated in the group stage. He has since become the starter for the Indomitable Lions, and in 2019 he was called up for the African Cup of Nations in Egypt. Onana played three games in the group stage and the round of 16 lost to Nigeria.

For the 2022 AFCON, he was also called up to be Cameroon's main goalie. He played in all of Cameroon's group stage matches, conceding a goal in all of the three matches and thus failing to make a clean sheet. In his team's Round of 16 match against Comoros, he also conceded a goal and the match finished in a 2-1 for the Indomitable Lions.

Onana's first clean sheet in the 2021 African Cup of Nations came in the quarter-final match against the Gambia, which they won 2-0. We will have to wait and see if he can emerge as one of the top 10 best players in Africa 2021 or not.

Edouard Mendy - Senegal

He is simply considered to be the best African goalkeeper at the time by both many football fans and experts. He is one of the goalkeepers that many already has booked him a place in the AFCON best team 2022. As a 13-year-old, he started at the Le Havre academy, where he spent six years playing for various youth teams. He joined Cherbourg in 2011 at the age of 19, playing in Nacional, France's third-best division. Mendy made his debut on 23 March 2012 in a match against Epinal. The goalkeeper featured in a total of 26 games for Cherbourg in three seasons, conceding 44 goals.

He joined Olympique de Marseille in the summer of 2015 as the third goalkeeper after Steve Mandand and Yoann Pelé. He never played for Marseille's main team, making occasional appearances for the second team in Nacional 2. He transferred to Ligue 2 side Reims before the start of the 2016/17 season to earn more playing time. He debuted for his new club on 1 August 2016.

In the following season he became a regular in the starting line-up, appearing in 34 games. Reims won first place in the final standings and qualified for Ligue 1. In his first game in France's top division, Mendy played on 11 August 2018 in an away game against Nice, scoring a clean sheet. He finished the season with 14 clean sheets, with the goalkeeper conceding only 42 goals in 38 games, putting Mendy among the best goalkeepers in the league.

He signed a five-year deal with Chelsea FC in London on 24 September 2020. Since his arrival in Chelsea, he became the main goalkeeper of the team, and was a key member of the team in their successful run in the Champions League. Since his arrival in Chelsea, Mendy has played a total of 70 matches so far, with 17 of them being in the UCL.

Mendi was eligible to play for

, Senegal and France on the international level. He first opted to play for Guinea Bissau in honour of his father, but later selected Senegal, for whom he would make his debut in 2018. He was the first-choice goalkeeper for the team at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Being one of the best ever African goalkeepers, Mendy was called up to play for Senegal in the 2021 African Cup of Nations.

However, just a few days before the start of the tournament, he was tested positive for Covid-19 and thus missed the first two matches of his team. He played his first match against Malawi, which ended 0-0 and earned him his first clean sheet. The second one came in the Round of 16 match against Cape Verde, where they won 2-0. In the quarter-final match against

, he was in goal, and the match finished 3-1, securing their place in the semi-final.

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