KEEPER GLOVES

Please give a big hand to a lover of wool, Spanish fashionista Ricardo Zamora and Germany legend and pioneer Sepp Maier

EEL-Y DOES IT

Heiner Stuhlfauth, who played 606 games for Nuremberg from 1916 to 1933, first enjoyed the benefit of gloves, made out of wool, in wet conditions. “I knew you can’t hold an eel with bare hands,” he later said. “You grip him using a piece of cloth.”

FASHION VICTIM

When not puffing on one of his 65 cigarettes a day, legendary Catalan keeper Ricardo Zamora (above right) wore mitts along with a V-neck jumper and black turtleneck. The stopper sported them in 1931 against England. Spain lost 7-1...

MAN IN BLACK

The only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’or, Lev Yashin matched black leather gloves to his shirt for a stylish look. Legend has it the Black Panther handed a pair to Yugoslavia’s Peta Radenkovic after the Soviet Union won gold at the 1956 Olympics.

SEPP CHANGE

Bayern Munich No.1 Sepp Maier linked up with Gebhard Reusch, whose dad founded a ski glove firm. In 1973, Reusch released their Maier-endorsed oversized gloves. “Within a year,” stated Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson, “everyone was wearing them.”