A year ago, Yassine Bono was not among the nominees for any individual awards at the global or European levels, but the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar put the Moroccan goalkeeper in the spotlight. With his outstanding performance, having moved last summer from Sevilla in Spain to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, and his contribution to leading his national team to the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in history, Bono has firmly entered the competition for multiple individual awards, including FIFA's Best Men's Goalkeeper award, where the Moroccan international reached the final list of nominees, but the award went to Emiliano Martínez, the Argentine goalkeeper.
Now, Bono faces a strong challenge for a new award, the "Yashin" trophy, which is presented annually by "France Football" magazine to the best goalkeeper in the world. The new edition of the "France Football" awards ceremony for 2023 is being held in Paris this evening, and the magazine announced a few weeks ago the list of nominees for its prestigious Best Player "Ballon d'Or" as well as the "Yashin" award for the best goalkeeper in the world.
Bono hopes to crown his distinguished career by winning this prestigious award, named after one of the greatest goalkeepers in history, the Russian Lev Yashin. If he wins, Bono will become the first Arab goalkeeper to receive this award. He is competing against nine other goalkeepers on the list announced by "France Football," including Thibaut Courtois (Belgium - Real Madrid), Ederson (Brazil - Manchester City), Dominik Livaković (Croatia - Dinamo Zagreb), Mike Maignan (France - AC Milan), Emiliano Martínez (Argentina - Aston Villa), André Onana (Cameroon - Inter Milan - Manchester United), Aaron Ramsdale (England - Arsenal), Brice Samba (France - Lens), and Marc-André ter Stegen (Germany - Barcelona).
It is worth noting that Belgian Thibaut Courtois won the "Yashin" award for the best goalkeeper in the world in 2022.
