Noah Atubolu, Nikola Vasilj and the Bundesliga's best 'penalty killers'
Facing a Harry Kane penalty may seem like an unenviable task – even for the game’s finest goalkeepers – but for Freiburg custodian Noah Atubolu, it might not be as daunting a prospect as some might expect.
Remarkably, the 23-year-old has kept out the last five spot-kicks he has faced in the Bundesliga, saving efforts from Josip Juranović, Kevin Volland, Florian Wirtz, André Silva and Romano Schmid to set a new top-flight record.
The last player to beat Atubolu from the spot was Marvin Ducksch, who converted his penalty in Werder Bremen’s 3-1 win over Freiburg in January 2024. If The Black Forest outfit were to give away another penalty in their Matchday 11 clash with Bayern Munich later this month, Atubolu can be more confident than most of keeping out England captain Kane.
Watch: Atubolu’s penalty saves
Dubbed the ‘penalty killer’ by the time he had turned 22, Atubolu isn’t the only current Bundesliga goalkeeper with a happy knack of saving spot-kicks. St. Pauli’s Nikola Vasilj has kept out six of the last seven he has faced – including four out of five last season.
However, neither Atubolu, nor Vasilj are currently among the 10 goalkeepers with the best penalty records in Bundesliga history…
1) Rudi Kargus (71 penalties faced, 18 saved)
A Bundesliga title winner and European Cup runner-up with Hamburg, Kargus has swapped football for painting since hanging up his gloves in 1990. The Worms native, who also enjoyed spells with Nuremberg, Karlsruhe, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Cologne, kept out over a quarter of the penalties he faced in the top flight.
2) Oliver Baumann (70 penalties faced, 16 saved)
Baumann, who is set to make his 500th Bundesliga appearance on Matchday 11, has aged like a fine wine since making his debut for Freiburg back in 2010, even replacing Manuel Neuer as Germany’s number one keeper. The Hoffenheim captain boasts the best penalty record of all current Bundesliga shot-stoppers.
3) Andreas Köpke (45 penalties faced, 14 saved)
Fans of a certain vintage will remember Köpke helping West Germany to FIFA World Cup glory in 1990 before triumphing with his country at UEFA EURO 1996 in England. He was a dab hand at saving penalties, too, keeping out nearly a third of the efforts he faced while at Nuremberg and Eintracht Frankfurt.
4) Norbert Nigbur (61 penalties faced, 14 saved)
A DFB Cup winner with Schalke in 1972, Nigbur was part of the Royal Blues squad that reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970 before helping Hertha Berlin progress to the last four of the UEFA Cup nine years later. He also played second fiddle to Sepp Maier in Germany’s triumphant 1974 FIFA World Cup campaign.
5) Dieter Burdenski (71 penalties faced, 14 saved)
Burdenski spent the vast majority of his career at Bremen, signing for the club after brief spells with Schalke and Arminia Bielefeld as a youngster. Two of his 14 saves were from none other than Bayern legend Gerd Müller, while Franz Beckenbauer also failed to get the better of Burdenski from the spot in the Bavarians’ 1-0 win in Munich in March 1977.
6) Toni Schumacher (86 penalties faced, 13 saved)
Heralded as one of the world’s best goalkeepers in the 1980s, Schumacher won the Bundesliga title and three DFB Cups during a 15-year spell with Cologne. The 1980 EURO winner also went on to play for Schalke, Bayern and Borussia Dortmund, making a brief cameo appearance on the final day of BVB’s title-winning campaign in 1995/96.
7) Koen Casteels (48 penalties faced, 12 saved)
Former Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg custodian Casteels managed to keep out one in every four penalties he faced before departing for Saudi Arabian side Al-Qadsiah last year. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Arjen Robben and Filip Kostić are just three of the dozen players unable to get the better of the Belgian from the spot.
8) Robert Enke (27 penalties faced, 11 saved)
Enke was widely tipped to be Germany’s number-one goalkeeper at the 2010 FIFA World Cup before his tragic passing in 2009. The Jena native played for Borussia Mönchengladbach, Benfica and Barcelona, but the vast majority of his career was spent with Hannover, where he attained legendary status.
9) Ronnie Hellström (50 penalties faced, 11 saved)
Sweden international Hellström made 266 top-flight appearances for Kaiserslautern after joining from Hammarby in 1974. He never won any silverware with the Red Devils but enjoyed a fine career in Germany’s top flight, even finishing sixth in the 1978 Ballon d’Or.
10) Frank Rost (55 penalties faced, 11 saved)
Keeping legendary Bayern custodian Oliver Kahn out of the top ten, Rost won two DFB Cup’s with Bremen in the 1990s before going on to play for Schalke and Hamburg. The four-time Germany international saved one in every five penalties he faced in the top flight.
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