Only one goalkeeper has EVER won the Ballon d'Or. It's been 61 years.

In 1963, Lev Yashin did something no goalkeeper has done before or since — he won the Ballon d'Or, the award for the best player in the world. Not best goalkeeper. Best player. In a sport that worships strikers and playmakers, a man whose job was to stop goals beat them all.

Yashin played his entire career for Dynamo Moscow and the Soviet Union, earning the nickname "The Black Spider" for his all-black kit and seemingly impossible reach. He's credited with saving over 150 penalty kicks throughout his career and revolutionized the position by commanding his entire penalty area, shouting instructions, and starting attacks with his distribution — things we take for granted from modern keepers like Neuer, but radical in the 1950s and 60s.

At the World Cup, Yashin represented the Soviet Union in four tournaments (1958–1970), helping them reach the quarterfinals three times. His 1966 performance in England was legendary — at age 36, he was still considered one of the best players in the tournament. FIFA later named the Best Goalkeeper award at each World Cup the Yashin Award in his honor.

What makes Yashin's legacy haunting is the gap he left. Over six decades later, no goalkeeper has come close to winning the Ballon d'Or again. Buffon, Kahn, Neuer — all great, none considered the single best player alive. Yashin wasn't just the greatest keeper. For one year, he was the greatest anyone.