Career: footballer, goalkeeper, athlete
Date of birth: May 11, 1992
Age: 32 years
Place of birth: Brea, Belgium
Position: Goalkeeper
Working leg: left
Height/weight: 200 cm / 96 kg
Marital status: single
On this page you will find all the latest news and everything you need to know about one of the greatest goalkeepers of our time. Thibaut Courtois is a Belgian footballer who plays for Real Madrid and the Belgium national team. His career is full of impressive achievements and triumphs, which we are proud to share on our website.
Let’s start with the fact that Thibaut is a product of the Genk academy. He joined the Belgian club at the age of 10 and gradually worked his way up from the youth teams to the main team. In 2011, at the age of 19, Courtois made his debut for the Genk first team and immediately showed himself to be a talented and promising goalkeeper. The impressive play of the young goalkeeper did not go unnoticed, and in 2011 he moved to Atletico Madrid. It was in the Spanish club that Thibaut Courtois fully revealed himself. During his three seasons on loan at Atletico, he became one of the best goalkeepers in La Liga, winning the Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup twice.
After returning to Chelsea in 2014, Courtois established himself in the Londoners’ starting lineup and helped the team win the Premier League, League Cup and Champions League. In 2018, he moved to Real Madrid, where he continues to defend the goal of one of the strongest clubs in the world. At international level, Thibaut Courtois is a key player for the Belgium national team. He made his debut for the national team in 2011 and has since played over 100 matches, becoming the record holder for the number of games played for Belgium. Courtois was one of the heroes of the “golden generation” of the Belgians, who won bronze medals at the 2018 World Cup.
In addition to his outstanding achievements at club and international level, Thibaut Courtois is known for his charisma, leadership qualities and dedication to his favorite cause. He is a role model for young footballers all over the world. On our website you will find detailed information about Thibaut Courtois’ career, his statistics, interesting facts, exclusive interviews, photo galleries and much more. Join us to root for one of the best goalkeepers of our time!
Thibaut Courtois was expected to have a future in volleyball, but even as a child the child was attracted to football. The coaches were not delighted with the large, clumsy boy, and only thanks to the hard work and support of his parents, Thibaut stayed in the game on the grass. And then he surprised with a rapid career rise and is now an athlete for whom football clubs known throughout the world compete.
Thibaut was born in the Belgian town of Bray to a family of semi-professional volleyball players Lambrechts and Thierry Courtois. His parents instilled a love of sports in the boy from an early age: they took him to a gymnastics section, took him to volleyball matches and taught him how to handle a ball. At the age of 5, little Thibaut suddenly wanted to play football, so his mother and father enrolled the child in the academy of the Bilzen club, where his day was scheduled down to the minute.
However, his parents considered his passion for football a whim, because the heir did not shine with any special talents in this area. Nature created the boy for volleyball, his father joked. Thibaut Courtois grew up as a large and awkward child. In addition, he was an introvert, he could easily withdraw into himself right during training.
And the boy literally attracted accidents. Not a month went by without Thibaut ending up in hospital: either with a broken ankle, or a dislocated finger, or with a head wound from accidentally bumping into a chair.
The first coaches did not agree with his father’s opinion at first: they saw potential in the quiet, serious boy, noted his good reflexes. Compared to his peers, Thibaut looked older, was powerful and strong – a real goalkeeper. But they did not put the little boy in goal yet. Friends and cousins, with whom Courtois often played football in the garden of his parents’ house, also did not want to see him as a goalkeeper – if he stood in goal, it was impossible to score a goal. Together with his brother, neighbor boys and nephews of Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters, Thibaut Courtois created a channel on YouTube, which he called YardBrooz (yard brothers). The kids posted the best goals scored during games in the backyard on the Internet.
When the future goalkeeper turned eight, the family moved to the city of Genk. Here the boy joined the youth team of the local club, where he was a field player until the age of 12. His parents insisted that their son not be tied to a specific position. Then he finally got to his rightful place and in his first tournament in his new role he won the title of best goalkeeper. When Thibaut grew up, the coaches doubted whether he would go beyond the youth team, too clumsy, although purposeful and hardworking. There was a moment when the club even thought about parting with the novice footballer, but Courtois proved that experienced mentors are wrong.
Big football appeared in Thibaut’s biography in 2009. The teenager had just turned 16, but Genk’s main team coach Pierre Denier took a risk and included him in the list of goalkeepers. In fact, Courtois was just lucky – the team was without goalkeepers at that time: two goalkeepers were injured, another was disqualified. In his first year, the young man was not lucky enough to take to the field. But in the 2010/2011 season, Thibaut was named the first goalkeeper. In the game with Inter from Turku in the preliminary stage of the Europa League, Genk snatched victory. And by the end of the summer of 2010, the young man signed his first contract, officially starting his professional career. The season was successful for the club, Courtois won the Belgian championship as part of the team. In the decisive match with Standard Liege, he saved the goal in the last three minutes of extra time. The young footballer was showered with awards: Thibaut was named the player of the year in his home club and the best goalkeeper in the Pro League. Renowned European clubs Tottenham and Chelsea began to compete for the goalkeeper. At the same time, Genk did not want to part with their favorite goalkeeper. However, Courtois decided to move up the career ladder, choosing Chelsea over Tottenham. The transfer amounted to £ 5 million.
The transfer from club to club was not easy for Thibaut. Genk did not want to let him go, and the goalkeeper had to resort to emergency measures: he missed training and did not even show up for the match with Lyon. But overall, the new contract was beneficial to the Belgian club, and they agreed to part with Courtois. Almost immediately after signing the contract, the goalkeeper was loaned from Chelsea to Spanish Atletico Madrid, where Thibaut put on the uniform with the number 13 (the number was inherited from David de Gea) and played for three years. He started brilliantly as part of the “mattress makers”: he held out for the entire debut match, parrying all possible shots. Together with Courtois, Atletico once again became the champion of the country, won the 2012 Europa League, won the UEFA Super Cup that same year, and received the Spanish Cup the following season.
Returning to Chelsea, the goalkeeper helped the Londoners confirm their championship twice, win the Football League Cup and the FA Cup. In the spring of 2018, Thibaut became a character in numerous memes that flooded the Internet. In the 1/8 final match of the Champions League, Chelsea lost to Barcelona. The Catalans scored three times against the Londoners, with Lionel Messi scoring two goals, and the Blues’ goalkeeper letting the balls through his legs. But overall, the Belgian played 35 matches last season and managed to keep a clean sheet in 15 of them. When there was a year left on his Chelsea contract, Thibaut received an attractive offer from Real Madrid, the amount being €40 million. Courtois’ family lived in Madrid – his ex-wife and children, whom the footballer wanted to see more often. The goalkeeper announced his intentions to Chelsea through an intermediary – an agent, and stoically avoided meetings with the coach. And this time, Thibaut’s strategy worked – as a result, Maurizio Sarri had to give in. The 6-year contract was signed in the summer of 2018. The goalkeeper’s salary was €7 million per year. Replacing Courtois cost Chelsea much more, with Spaniard Kepa Arrizabalaga costing the club €80 million. Thibault was not at his best in his debut match for his new club, conceding a goal against Leganes. The goalkeeper also failed to make a name for himself during the season, his performances were very average, which affected the team’s success. Nevertheless, in the 2019/2020 season, Real Madrid once again won the Spanish championship and triumphed in the country’s Super Cup. In the opening round of the Champions League group stage in September 2021, Real Madrid played Inter. The Madrid team barely managed to keep the match with a score of 1:0.
A lot of credit for the victory lay in the work of the goalkeeper. Sports publication Goal recognized Thibaut as the best player of the match, and the goalkeeper himself confirmed that the decisive factor in the game was his masterful defense of the goal. In his opinion, the club got an excellent result in a competition with a strong opponent. In December 2021, the goalkeeper made his 150th appearance on the field in a match against Real Sociedad in the Spanish Primera. And it turned out to be successful – the “creamy” won with a score of 2:0. A little later, the athlete headed the 13th team of the week in FIFA 22. At that time, the player’s rating was 90 points. In January 2022, the “creamy” won the final of the Spanish Super Cup. Real fought for first place with Athletic. A dangerous moment for the team occurred after the dismissal of defender Eder Militao. The referee then awarded an 11-meter penalty, but Thibaut managed to protect the goal. Courtois managed to “close the gestalt” by reflecting Messi’s penalty in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League. In an interview, the goalkeeper told how before the penalty kick he analyzed Lionel’s previous throws and assumed that he would hit the left corner. His calculations turned out to be correct. Thibaut Courtois was named the best player of the match after the victory in the semi-final over Manchester City. In the final, the “creamy” had to fight with Liverpool for first place. The goalkeeper listed the strengths of the opponents, but noted that the situation on the field could surprise the fans.
The footballer was called up to the Belgian national team in 2011, Courtois became the youngest goalkeeper in the history of the national team. The opponents in the debut match were the French, this meeting ended in a draw.
Thibaut Courtois went with the national team of his native country to the 2018 World Cup, which was held in Russia. The Belgians defeated Tunisia, England and Japan, reaching the 1/4 finals. The next opponent was the Brazilian team, which Thibaut’s team won with a score of 2: 1. In the semi-finals, Belgium fought with representatives of France and lost, but finished the tournament as bronze medalists. Courtois received the title of the best goalkeeper of the World Cup.
At Euro 2020, Thibaut was one of the few goalkeepers who managed to demonstrate successful dribbling, including thanks to which Thorgan Hazard scored the only goal against Portugal in the 1/8 finals. The goalkeeper’s loved ones were surprised that he was not included in the list of nominees for the title of best goalkeeper at the end of the 2020/2021 season. The footballer himself called this a response to his critical statements about the decisions of UEFA and FIFA to increase the number of games.
In November 2022, Thibaut went to the World Cup in Qatar as part of the Belgian national team. The media, citing L’Equipe, reported that the atmosphere in the team was not very good, the players were in conflict with each other, including Courtois and De Bruyne. A “crisis meeting” was even organized to resolve the problems. Belgium failed to advance from the group at the tournament, for which Thibaut apologized to all the fans.
At the beginning of 2023, Courtois was among the three nominees for the FIFA Best Goalkeeper Award. However, the award ultimately went to Emiliano Martinez. In the spring, the athlete suffered from gastroenteritis, which is why he missed some matches. Thibaut was not fully ready for the most important Champions League game against Manchester City. He took to the field with a torn triceps. His team lost 0:4. In June, a scandal erupted when Courtois left the Belgian national team due to the words and actions of their head coach Domenico Tedesco. He did not appoint the goalkeeper as captain.
In August, Thibaut tore his cruciate ligament during training. The injury turned out to be very serious. The player underwent surgery, and it took a long time to recover. Courtois resumed individual training only in January 2024. However, a few weeks later, he suffered another injury. The goalkeeper was diagnosed with a torn inner meniscus in his right knee, which is why he needed surgery. It took him another two months to recover.
For the first time in a long time, Thibaut Courtois played for Real Madrid in early May in a match against Cadiz. The team became La Liga champions ahead of schedule. And in June, the Madrid club defeated Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final (2:0). Courtois defended the goal the entire game against the background of the illness of the second goalkeeper Andrei Lunin.
Thibaut was not called up for Euro 2024. The coach of the Belgian national team, Domenico Tedesco, explained this by the recent injury of the goalkeeper and the unwillingness to take risks in such an important tournament.