What separates a good goalkeeper from an absolute legend? On football's biggest platform, the answer often lies in the ability to walk off the pitch ninety minutes later with the scoreboard still reading zero, having transformed pressure into poetry and danger into calm. The race for the most clean sheets in FIFA World Cup history is a monument to those who thrived when the stakes were highest, and the numbers reveal a fascinating battle at the summit. France's Fabien Barthez and England's Peter Shilton share the pinnacle with ten shutouts each, both spread across seventeen tournament appearances. Barthez, the swaggering Frenchman, kept five clean sheets in seven matches during France's triumphant 1998 campaign, added one in three outings at Korea/Japan 2002, and finished with four in seven at Germany 2006, conceding only eight goals at a remarkable rate of 0.47 per match. Shilton, the towering Englishman, recorded four shutouts in five games at Spain 1982, three in five at Mexico 1986, and three in seven at Italy 1990, letting in ten goals at 0.59 per match. Just behind them, the Netherlands' Jan Jongbloed amassed eight clean sheets in only twelve appearances, an extraordinary 0.67 ratio, with five in seven at West Germany 1974 and three in five at Argentina 1978. Brazil's Leão matched that total across fourteen appearances with an even stingier 0.57 ratio, conceding a mere seven goals at 0.50 per match across the same two tournaments. Belgium's Thibaut Courtois reached eight shutouts in seventeen appearances, collecting two in five at Brazil 2014, three in seven at Russia 2018, two in three at Qatar 2022, and one in two at the 2026 edition. West Germany's Sepp Maier and Brazil's Taffarel each posted eight clean sheets in eighteen appearances, while France's Hugo Lloris achieved the same figure in twenty outings. Brazil's Gilmar secured seven in fourteen, Spain's Iker Casillas seven in seventeen, Uruguay's Fernando Muslera seven in eighteen, and Germany's Manuel Neuer seven in twenty-one. These custodians did not merely protect goals; they defined eras.