The Zamora trophy is a title awarded by the sports daily Marca to the goalkeeper who has conceded the fewest goals in the two most important divisions of Spanish football, the first and second divisions.
The award recognises the effort and work of the professional who wins it. There is no cash prize.
Why is it called the Zamora Trophy?
- The trophy is named after goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora, a 20th century legend who played as a goalkeeper between the 1920s and 1930s.
Who was Ricardo Zamora?
Ricardo Zamora Martínez was a footballer and football coach in the early 20th century. A curiosity of this goalkeeper was his way of clearing balls with his elbow, a form of clearing that was invented by the player himself and which has been known ever since as zamorana.
During his time as a player, his most important milestones were as goalkeeper for Real Madrid and Español, he is considered one of the best players in football and one of the first media cases in the history of football in Spain, as his signing for Real Madrid is considered one of the most expensive in history, given the context and the historical period in which the signing took place. The Spanish club put a price on his signing, 100,000 pesetas and never thought that a club would buy their star player with such a high price. Real Madrid paid such a sum, making Zamora one of the most expensive players of the time. This signing has to be seen in the context of the 1920s and 1930s, as today, 100,000 pesetas would be approximately 600 euros.
After finishing his playing days, Zamora coached Club Atlético de Madrid, at the time known as Athletic-Aviación Club, where he won two league titles. He also coached Celta de Vigo, RCD Español and the now defunct Club Deportivo Málaga. He also coached the Spanish national team in 1952 and the Venezuelan national team the following year (1953).
Throughout his life, Zamora was linked to his passion, football, and after his retirement from playing, he was employed by RCD Español until the end of his days.
Ranking
The first trophy was awarded in 1959 to Antonio Ramallets of F.C. Barcelona. Interestingly, this goalkeeper, together with Víctor Valdés (F.C. Barcelona), are the two most awarded goalkeepers in the history of the tournament, both goalkeepers having received the award on five occasions. For this reason, both players have been awarded the Zamora de Oro, a special award given to the goalkeepers who have been the least goalkeepers in 5 seasons, that is to say, they have won the Zamora award 5 times.
FC Barcelona goalkeepers are the players who have received this trophy the most times, at least 20 times, followed by Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid players.
How is the trophy calculated?
Have played at least 28 matches during the Spanish League, first or second division.
To be considered as having played a match, a player must be on the pitch for at least 70 minutes.
Once the season is over, the average of each player is calculated:
- The average is the total number of goals conceded divided by the total number of matches played. This result is the average number of goals conceded to each goalkeeper in a season.
- The player with the lowest average is ranked first and the results are then ranked in increasing order.
- If there are two goalkeepers with the same average, they are ranked in the same position.
Therefore, more than one contender could win the Zamora trophy. This already happened in the 92/93 season when we had two winners: Francisco Liaño of Deportivo de La Coruña and Santiago Cañizares of R.C Celta de Vigo.