There have been a number of top-quality goalkeepers in the Bundesliga over the years who have continually frustrated some of the very best footballers in the world when playing their football in Germany.
Men like Oliver Kahn, Jens Lehmann, Hans Jorg Butt, Frank Rost, Ulrich Stein and Manuel Neuer have all been incredible between the sticks whilst playing for Die Mannschaft or in the Bundesliga top clubs, however who makes the top five in regards to keeping the most clean sheets?
5. Ulrich Stein
Having played for Arminia Bielefeld, Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt over the course of the 1970s, 80s and part of the 90s, Ulrich Stein starts our list as the fifth-most successful goalkeeper to keep the most clean sheets. The shot-stopper managed to keep 146 clean sheets in his 512 matches for all three teams, achieving a 28.5% success rate throughout his career.
However, his personality preceded him a little as he had a reputation for sudden outbursts. Stein was involved in many controversies during his playing career, most notably when he was removed from the Germany squad for referring to then-manager, Franz Beckenbauer, as a laughing stock to the footballing community.
Goalkeepers are believed to be a crazy bunch, though.
4. Eike Immel
Having played across the same sort of timeframe that Ulrich did, Eike Immel was another of the top ‘keepers to have been performing in the Bundesliga at the time. Having featured for Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart before joining Manchester City for his twilight years, the goalkeeper managed to achieve 148 clean sheets in his 534 matches, therefore recording a 27.7% success rate.
Immel was instrumental for Stuttgart during his time at the club, as he helped the side lift the league title in 1992, whilst also proving rather successful for his country as well in the 1980s.
3. Oliver Reck
Oliver Reck was anything but a wreck in between the sticks for Werder Bremen during his time at the Bundesliga’s club, in which he would spend the majority of his playing days. The ‘keeper, who had the horrible role of having to deputise for Oliver Kahn at national level, managed to keep 177 clean sheets over the course of 471 Bundesliga matches, achieving a success rate of 37.6%.
Those figures will have been helped by the successful five years he had at Schalke 04 during the final five years of his career, although the vast majority of his success had come in goal for Werder Bremen.
2. Manuel Neuer
It was only going to be a matter of time before a Bayern Munich goalkeeper appeared on the list of individuals with the most clean sheets in the Bundesliga and Manuel Neuer is the first one to appear as the Bavarians have the number one and two spots.
Currently still only 34-years-old, Neuer has been widely touted as one of the very best goalkeepers to have ever played the game in the world; not just in Germany and with figures like his, it is not hard to see why.
The Germany international has managed to achieve 195 clean sheets in 405 matches, therefore almost keeping one in every other game (48.1%). Having started his career at Schalke 04 before joining Die Roten in 2011, the experienced shot-stopper is just a few away from taking the top spot and will likely take it in the 2020/21 campaign.
1. Oliver Kahn
Perhaps one of the greatest goalkeepers to have ever played the sport of football, Oliver Kahn sits proudly at the top of the charts when it comes down to keeping the most clean sheets in Bundesliga history.
The former Bayern Munich legend kept a mammoth 204 of them during his two-decade career (having started off at Karlsruher SC) across 557 matches, therefore achieving an incredibly impressive 36.6% success rate.
As mentioned, he holds the record of clean sheets in the Bundesliga for now, although it would not be a surprise if he had to settle for second place in the near future.
