“When you’re injured, people tend to forget about you, which is normal,” said Real Madrid and Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois.

The only thing is, it is hard to forget one of the most iconic keepers of recent times, which explains his nomination for The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper 2023.

In his time with Genk, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea and his current employers, he has won pretty much everything there is to win, including league titles wherever he has gone, domestic cups, the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League with Atletico, the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League and two FIFA Club World Cups™ with Real.

With a record like that, it is hard for Courtois to fall into oblivion, despite the serious injury he sustained in training last August, when he ruptured the ACL in his left knee. The goalkeeper, who has 102 caps to his name, enjoyed an outstanding end to the 2022/23 season, helping Los Merengues win the Copa del Rey and pulling off some sensational saves in the knockout rounds of the Champions League.

In an exclusive interview with FIFA.com, Courtois, who grew up in the town of Bree, north of Liege, said he is well on the road to recovery, though he is more than likely to miss UEFA EURO 2024. Ahead of the 2023 ceremony in London on 15 January 2024, he explained what The Best FIFA Awards™ mean to him, revealed the names of the greatest players he has shared a pitch with, and spoke of his memories of three FIFA World Cups™.

You were named The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper in 2018 and came second in 2022. Is it a special award for you?

Thibaut Courtois: Yes, of course. The Best takes into account performances up to the end of August, and I got injured in mid-August, so I felt I was in with a shot of collecting the award. It’s a great trophy to win because it’s so good to know that coaches and players are thinking of you when they cast their votes. They saw that I had a good year despite the fact we got knocked out in the semi-finals of the Champions League. I think they remembered all the saves I made against Chelsea and Manchester City [in the quarter and semi-finals respectively], and in La Liga and the Copa del Rey win.

When you’re injured, people tend to forget about you, which is normal. But they’ve voted for me, which means they’ve thought about me, so I feel honoured. What’s more, it makes me want to come back stronger to show that I’m the same keeper, if not a better one (laughs).
Morocco’s Yassine Bounou and Brazil’s Ederson are the two other contenders for The Best Men’s Goalkeeper award. What do you have to say about them?

I know Yassine well. He was at my wedding, and we’ve been good friends for a long time, having played together at Atletico. He’s a great keeper and one of the main reasons why Morocco went so far [at Qatar 2022]. He won the Europa League with Sevilla and had a great year in La Liga too, helping them push for the title. He deserves to win it [The Best].

And it’s no surprise to see Ederson in there as well. He won the Champions League, Premier League, and the FA Cup. He’s a fantastic keeper, a modern keeper, which is important. They both deserve to win the trophy.
What’s your definition of a modern goalkeeper?

They’re not content with just saving shots. They help build play, which is important. They play out passes to create space, and cover for defenders. It’s totally different to what keepers did 20 years ago, when they barely ever played it short.

What’s your view of the three nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player: Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe?

It’s always great to play against them. In the Champions League, for example, I managed to keep Haaland out, only for his team-mates to go and score all the goals. Mbappe and Messi are both fantastic players too, but I think Haaland deserves the award most because he’s won the Champions League, the English Premier League, the FA Cup, and scored a huge amount of goals. So, he deserves it for me, though the other two have scored a lot of goals as well. We’ll just have to see.
Who are the best players you’ve played with and against?

I’ve been lucky enough to play with lots of great players and I can’t name just the one. Playing against Cristiano [Ronaldo], Messi, Haaland, Mbappe… There are so many great names you could pick, but it’s not up to me to say. I’ve just been fortunate enough to face some of the greatest names in the game, which is special in itself.

Eden Hazard, one of the best players you’ve had the privilege of playing with, retired last October. Give us your thoughts on him.

Eden was a great player and there were few as good as him. He had no luck at Real Madrid. It was a dream move for him, but he had all those injuries. You can’t forget his time at Chelsea either, when he was one of the best in the world. It’s sad that he’s retired.
You appeared at three FIFA World Cups with him and Belgium. What do you remember of your first, in Brazil in 2014 ?

It was special, Belgium’s first World Cup in 12 years. First and foremost, we wanted to get out of the group, and after that it was just a case of who we came up against. The quarter-final against Argentina was tough [Belgium lost 1-0]. It was a tight game, and we could have won it, but that’s football.

What about Russia 2018, when the Red Devils finished third?

That was the most special of all. As far as our generation was concerned, it was the tournament where everyone was at their best. To finish third was important, yes, but we were there to win. In any other sport you’d be happy to win a bronze at the World Championships, but in football it’s a bit different. I was pleased all the same. The match against Brazil was one of the best of my career.

Then you go and lose in the semi-finals [1-0 to France]. It was so sad because it was such a tight game with very few chances on either side. We knew it was a case of whoever scores first wins, but again, that’s just the way it goes. It was great to have played at that World Cup and to experience everything we did with our country.