Marc-Andre ter Stegen On Track To Become The ‘Best’ Zamora Trophy Winner In History

Richmond MarfoApril 5, 2023

0 1 minute read

It goes without saying that Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been one of the most important reasons why Barcelona are seated atop the La Liga standings this season.

The German international, after going through a couple of difficult seasons, is enjoying his best-ever campaign in Blaugrana colours.

And, as things stand, the 31-year-old, who was promoted to the status of the fourth club captain following Gerard Pique’s retirement, is well on track to win the Zamora Trophy this season.

The Zamora Trophy is a football award, established by MARCA in 1958. The trophy is awarded to the goalkeeper who has the lowest “goals-to-games” ratio in La Liga.

In fact, according to MARCA, ter Stegen could go on to win the coveted honour with better numbers than any goalkeeper in the history of the Zamora trophy.

For a goalkeeper to be eligible for the trophy, he needs to play at least 28 games in the season. Ter Stegen has currently played 27 matches in La Liga and has let in just nine goals.

And with still 11 matches left to be played in the season, the German international could finish with the best-ever coefficient (goals conceded-to-games ratio) by any goalkeeper to have won the Zamora Trophy.

At the moment, that honour belongs to Jan Oblak of Atletico Madrid and former Deportivo La Coruna stopper Francisco Liano, both of whom won the Zamora Trophy in 2015/16 and 1993/94 respectively, with a coefficient of 0.47.

After 27 games, Ter Stegen’s coefficient stands at just 0.33 and if he were to maintain his strong record for the remainder of the season, the Barcelona goalkeeper can win the Zamora Trophy with the lowest-ever goal-to-game ratio by any goalkeeper in history.

As things stand, the closest competitor to Ter Stegen this season is Alex Remiro of Real Sociedad who has a coefficient of 0.92 (24 goals conceded in 26 matches).

So, unless there is a huge turnaround in the performances, the Barcelona goalkeeper seems primed to win his first-ever Zamora Trophy. And should he continue at this rate, he could end up being the ‘best’ Zamora Trophy winner in history.