Thibaut Courtois

Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois born 11 May 1992 is a Belgian professional footballerwho plays for English club Chelsea and the Belgium national team as a goalkeeper.

Despite his young age, Courtois is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and he won the 2012–13 and 2013–14 Ricardo Zamora Trophies while on loan at Atlético Madrid.

Courtois made his senior international debut in 2011. He has earned over 25 caps and played for Belgium at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Club career
Chelsea
In July 2011 Courtois joined Premier League club Chelsea for an undisclosed fee, signing a five-year deal.

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Loan to Atlético Madrid

Within weeks of joining Chelsea, Courtois was sent on a season-long loan to Atlético Madrid. Courtois was given the number 13 shirt by Atlético, which had previously been worn by David de Gea prior to his transfer to Manchester United in June 2011. He then joined Atlético Madrid.

2011–12 season

Courtois made his début for Atlético in a UEFA Europa League match against Vitória de Guimarães, followed by his La Liga début, a 0–0 draw with Osasuna. Courtois became first choice keeper over Sergio Asenjo, keeping four clean sheets in his first six La Liga games. On 26 November 2011, Courtois received his first red card of his professional career after fouling Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, as Atlético lost the Madrid derby 4–1. Atlético reached the 2012 UEFA Europa League Final, and Courtois kept a clean sheet as the club won 3–0 over fellow Spanish side Athletic Bilbao.

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2012–13 season

Courtois' loan to Atlético was extended to cover the 2012–13 season. His first game of the loan extension was against parent club Chelsea in the2012 UEFA Super Cup final in Monaco, which ended in a 4–1 victory for Atlético Madrid. Later in the season Courtois set a new Atlético Madrid record of 820 minutes without conceding a goal at the Estadio Vicente Calderon, ended by being beaten in a 1–0 loss to Real Sociedad. Atlético reached the 2013 Copa del Rey Final, and Courtois was named man of the match in a 2–1 victory against city rivals Real, the first time that Atlético had beaten Real in 14 years.

2013–14 season

For the 2013–14 season, Courtois' loan to Atlético was extended by a further 12 months.

When Atlético were drawn to play Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final, it was reported that a clause in Courtois' contract required Atlético to pay Chelsea €3 million per match if they selected him against his parent club, and that Atlético could not afford such a sum. UEFA made it clear that considerations of sporting integrity made such a clause "null, void and unenforceable", and confirmed that Atlético were free to select Courtois without making any such payment.

By conceding the fewest goals in a substantial amount of matches during the 2013–14 season, Courtois made an important contribution to Atletico's 2013–14 La Liga title, their first since 1996. Thus, he was nominated as the best goalkeeper in the league, alongside Willy Caballero of Málaga CF and Keylor Navas of Levante UD.

2014–15 season

In June 2014, Chelsea manager José Mourinho confirmed that Courtois would return to Chelsea for the upcoming season. He was assigned the number 13 kit number, last worn by Victor Moses. On 18 August, Mourinho announced that Courtois would start the Premier League opener against Burnley in place of Petr Čech. Although he conceded the first goal to Scott Arfield at Turf Moor, Chelsea won 3–1. Courtois kept his first Premier League clean sheet in his second game, making several crucial saves in a 2–0 home win over Leicester City.

On 11 September 2014, Courtois signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea, keeping him at the club until 2019. Upon signing Courtois said: "It’s really nice to have signed this new contract for five years."

Courtois suffered a head injury in the first half of Chelsea's 2–0 home win over Arsenal on 5 October due to a collision with Alexis Sánchez; he was substituted and then taken to hospital. He was then treated for a minor cut to his ear and released from hospital that night.

He won his first trophy with Chelsea on 1 March 2015, as they defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 in the League Cup Final, but Čech played that match and Courtois remained on the substitutes' bench.

International career

Courtois was first called up to the Belgium squad in October 2011 and made his début the following month in a friendly 0–0 againstFrance, making him the youngest goalkeeper to ever play for the Belgian national team.

Courtois played every minute during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, as Belgium qualified for its first major tournament since the 2002 FIFA World Cup.Throughout these qualifiers, he kept six clean sheets in ten matches.

On 13 May 2014, Courtois was named in the squad to go to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. At the tournament, he played all five games of the Belgian team, starting with a 2–1 win against Algeria in Belo Horizonte. Courtois then managed to keep consecutive clean sheets in 1–0 wins against Russia and South Korea. In the round of 16 against the United States he also kept a clean sheet during the regular playing time, but conceded one goal in the extra time and later also the decisive Argentinian goal by Gonzalo Higuaín in the quarter-final.

Personal life
Thibaut's sister Valérie is a volleyball player, who plays as a libero, represents Budowlani Łódź volleyball team and Belgium on the international stage. His parents also were volleyball players, and Thibaut played volleyball in his childhood but decided to focus on football when he was 12.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/