Oliver Kahn Century and Best Goalkeeper of the Past 25 Years elections. From 1994 to 2006, Kahn was part of the German national team, in which he played as a starter after the retirement of Andreas Köpke; he was an unused member of the squad that won the 1996 UEFA European Championship. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup, although Germany was not among the tournament favourites, Kahn's prowess in goal was key to reaching the final, where Germany lost 0–2 to Brazil and Kahn made a mistake on Brazil's first goal, nonetheless he received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.
Oliver Kahn Once the game was over with Brazil as the new champion, he stood alone and disappointed in his goal; nevertheless he refused to blame his injury for his mistake. The FIFA Technical Study Group awarded him with the Lev Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper of the tournament, while also edging out tournament top scorer Ronaldo to receive the Golden Ball for the best individual performance. Kahn is the first and so far only goalkeeper in history to win the Golden Ball, and also became the first German goalkeeper to keep five clean sheets in a World Cup tournament. Kahn