Top 9 best EFL Championship goalkeepers in 2026/27 (Ranked) | OneFootball

Football League World previews and ranks the nine best Championship goalkeepers right now ahead of the 2026/27 campaign

One of the key ingredients behind any successful promotion bid is a decisive, top-quality goalkeeper between the sticks, and that will be on the minds of a number of Championship sides as we head through the summer transfer window towards the 2026/27 campaign.

Just last season, Carl Rushworth was inspirational for Frank Lampard's Coventry City as they romped to the Championship title with an eleven-point gap over second-placed Ipswich Town, whereas James Trafford produced perhaps the strongest second-tier goalkeeping campaign in history at Burnley during the 2023/24 term by conceding just 16 goals in an immediate promotion back to the top-flight for the Clarets.

Will the Championship see a similar goalkeeping hero emerge next season? The jury remains out, but there is no shortage of shot-stopping talent in the second-tier and, with that in mind, Football League World has decided to rank the NINE best goalkeepers in the division right now.

9 ? ? Sam Johnstone

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New Wolves boss Cesar Peixoto has been welcomed by an embarrassment of goalkeeping riches upon his arrival at Molineux to replace the surprisingly-sacked Rob Edwards, the depth of which is telling by our first inclusion unlikely to even be the first-choice candidate of the Portuguese boss.

Unlike the shot-stopper most likely to man the sticks for the Old Gold, Johnstone is extremely well-versed at Championship level and that's what gives the four-cap England international the nod here despite spending the last four years as second-in-command with Crystal Palace and Wolves.

Johnstone has made more than 200 second-tier appearances for the likes of Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion, making a name for himself on loan at Villa Park from Manchester United before establishing his class just down the road with the Baggies.

He was inspired when the Villains reached the play-off final in 2018, and would go one better by keeping 14 clean sheets as Albion achieved promotion in the 2019/20 campaign.

Johnstone may wonder if he hung around at the Hawthorns for too long, having since found game-time somewhat harder to come by after crossing the Black Country divide via Selhurst Park as he featured on just 12 occasions as Wolves suffered relegation last term, but his second-tier expertise and international pedigree makes the 33-year-old a sure-fire inclusion - outweighing his likely position in Peixoto's pecking order.

8 ? ? Michael Cooper

Michael Cooper, meanwhile, will be hoping to build upon a middling campaign with Sheffield United, having wowed the Bramall Lane faithful during his debut season after arriving from Plymouth Argyle before struggling on occasion in what was a hugely-disappointing term for the Blades.

Still one of the stronger second-tier shot-stoppers at his best, Cooper's inspirational performances in his side's run to the play-off final took a notable dip last time out as he conceded 12 more goals and, rather tellingly, amassed a save percentage of -6.75, a reduction of more than 10 from the previous campaign.

Cooper, however, should not be judged from one arguably sub-par season alone, having cemented his worth as a leading EFL goalkeeper during his days at Plymouth prior to rocking up in the Steel City.

Aged just 26, Cooper still has plenty of time to improve further - and find himself atop this list in the years to come - and he possesses many of the fundamentals required to be a top goalkeeper, combining exquisite reflexes with assured distribution and a strong ability to command his area despite not being the tallest 'keeper at 6'1.

7 ? ? Mads Hermansen

Returning to the Championship two years on from his role in Leicester City's 2023/24 title-winning campaign under Enzo Maresca, Mads Hermansen is likely to retain his position as Nuno Espirito Santo's first-choice between the sticks after displacing Alphonse Areola during the second-half of last season.

The Dane joined West Ham last summer following Leicester's relegation in a reported £20 million deal and endured a nightmareish start to life at the London Stadium by conceding eight goals in his first two matches before losing his place to Areola - but, having since re-wrestled it from the Frenchman's clutches, Hermansen will be hoping to man the sticks in another promotion out of the Championship next term.

He kept three clean sheets in the Hammers' final eight outings as they suffered relegation, which glosses over a less-impressive save percentage of -5.11 and a couple of high-profile errors to boot.

Hermansen did, however, fare considerably better when Leicester won the league title two years ago, where his sharp shot-stopping abilities and confident distribution from the back made him a big hit under Maresca.

The Championship may just be Hermansen's level right now, but that's exactly why he's rated by FLW as one of the league's stronger 'keepers.

6 ? ? Jose Sa

It's another member of the freshly-relegated contingent in Jose Sa, who, having spent his formative years in Portugal with Maritimo and FC Porto before moving onto Olympaicos and then Wolves, is the only goalkeeper on this list without a single Championship appearance.

The 33-year-old represents top-level pedigree and nous in Peixoto's ranks and feels likely to be first-choice following Edwards' departure, losing his place behind Johnstone for parts of last season.

Sa's stock has perhaps dropped somewhat over recent terms, having initially been among the strongest-performing Premier League goalkeepers after arriving in the West Midlands in 2021, where he has made 170 appearances to date.

At his best, the veteran has kept the Old Gold in countless affairs, offering a safe and ever-tested pair of hands while possessing the ability to kick-start swift transitions with his long-range distribution.

The performances of Sa, much like many of his teammates at Wolves, have declined of late, but the fact he has remained in Portugal's squad for this summer's World Cup shows how much shot-stopping ability remains.

Whether Peixoto opts with his fellow countryman or reinstates Johnstone, the Old Gold find themselves in extremely safe hands ahead of 2026/27.

Derby County fans will likely not have heard of Jacob Widell Zetterstrom when he arrived from Djurgardens in the summer of 2024, but they certainly know all about him now.

After a steady debut year in England where Derby battled relegation, Zetterstrom was high among the stats for many important metrics for a goalkeeper, such as being the sixth-best in the division when it comes to save percentage in 2025-26 (as per Fotmob), and third in saves per 90 minutes, as well as third behind Carl Rushworth and Christian Walton in goals prevented.

The Swedish stopper missed three months of action due to illness between January and April, but he returned for the final handful of fixtures of the campaign - he will be a big gain for Derby next season providing he sticks around, with his contract at Pride Park expiring in the summer of 2027.

Failure to come to terms on a new deal could see the vultures swoop for Zetterstrom's services - last season saw the likes of Brentford and Nottingham Forest linked, and perhaps they could return should there be contract uncertainty.

4 ? ? Lawrence Vigouroux

When Swansea City signed Lawrence Vigouroux in 2024 from Burnley, they perhaps quite didn't expect the London-born Chilean to have quite the impact he's had in the two years since.

Vigouroux had played regularly for three straight seasons in League Two for Leyton Orient before becoming a Burnley back-up stopper in 2023, but he immediately went in as the Swans' first-choice stopper under Luke Williams when he arrived and has not lost that position since, playing all but one of the club's 92 Championship fixtures in the last two years.

In the top five last season of goalkeepers for save percentage, saves per 90 minutes and clean sheets, Vigouroux is a fantastic shot-stopper, and despite being in his 30's, he shows no signs of slowing down, and he will be Vitor Matos' man for 2026-27.

3 ? ? Daniel Iversen

Having been on their books since 2016, it took Leicester City until 2023 to actually give Daniel Iversen a chance in the Premier League, after taking in loan stints throughout the EFL at Oldham Athletic, Rotherham United and Preston North End.

The Danish giant particularly impressed at PNE for a year-and-a-half, and in March 2023, Brendan Rodgers finally handed him a top flight debut, and he remained in-between the sticks for the rest of the year - Enzo Maresca though did not fancy Iversen, and he was on the sidelines once more, experiencing another loan out at Stoke City for a few months before the 2024-25 season was one where he didn't play a single minute of football.

A permanent move to Preston though last summer has re-invigorated Iversen, who saved the Lilywhites on so many occasions in 2025-26 with some incredible stops, and when he was out injured for the best part of two months, PNE's form capitulated.

Sitting eighth in the save percentage ranks for last season and 10th for goals prevented, those numbers perhaps don't fully tell the whole story - Iversen is a top goalkeeper, and Premier League clubs will surely be looking at him.

2 ? ? Daniel Peretz

When Tonda Eckert was appointed as Southampton manager in November 2025 to succeed Will Still, he had a goalkeeper issue on his hands - neither Gavin Bazunu or Alex McCarthy were too convincing in-between the sticks, so a January move was made for Daniel Peretz.

The Israeli stopper spent the first half of the season on the bench for Hamburg, but the Saints struck a deal with Bayern Munich to loan the 25-year-old in for the rest of the season - and what a difference he made.

Seven clean sheets in 20 regular season games and just 18 goals conceded - less than a goal a game - Peretz instilled more confidence in the defenders in-front of him.

Southampton - still a Championship club after the Spygate scandal - have managed to secure Peretz's services on a permanent basis, and he is undisputedly going to be one of the top players in his position in the division based on the few months of evidence he racked up in early 2026.

1 ? ? Viktor Johansson

For a number of years now, Viktor Johansson has remained in the Championship when many have expected him to move on to a top flight club somewhere in Europe - and Stoke City are a very lucky club.

Snagged from Rotherham United after they were relegated into League One, Johansson has been a model of consistency for the Potters for the last two seasons, and in his debut Championship season for the Staffordshire outfit, he ranked second in the division for goals prevented and saves made per 90 minutes.

Injury limited the Swede to just 25 league outings in 2025-26, but he was still sixth in the division for goals prevented, as well as second in save percentage, which showed how vital he is to the goings on at the bet365 Stadium.