For the Fourth World Cup in a row, the losing goalkeeper either plays, or has played for Monaco.
This funny but strange trend started in 2006 when the then Monaco goalkeeper Fabian Barthez reached the World Cup final with France.
The perpetually Bald-headed footballer turned racing driver had been very brilliant in between the sticks for his French national team at that World Cup and would have probably won it but for a moment of madness in the final from his captain, Zidane who was sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi of Italy.
Ultimately France lost that final and that was the beginning of Monaco’s World Cup goalkeepers curse.
In the 2010 final between Spain and Holland, the Dutch side had another Monaco shot stopper in the person of Maarten Stekelenburg.
27 at that time, and in the peak of his career, Stekelenburg could only watch haplessly as an Iniesta extra time strike condemned his Dutch side to a painful final defeat.
The curse would continue unabated as in 2014 World Cup final, a Lionel Messi led Argentina side with another Monaco goalkeeper in Sergi Romero lost the final to Germany.
just like his predecessor in the previous tournament, Argentina lost the match in extra time to a lone strike by Dortmund’s Mario Goetze.
And this summer’s World Cup would not be left out in the curse as just yesterday, Danijel Subasic the current Monaco goalkeeper lost with his Croatian side in a wild final against France.
The Croats showed some fighting spirit but were no match for their French opponent who edged them in a 4:2 pulsating victory.
As the football community shifts it’s attention to the next World Cup, whoever will be the Monaco goalkeeper then will be wary of these unfortunate chain of events and hope it doesn’t repeat itself again.