Thibaut Courtois

After progressing through the Genk youth system, Courtois, aged 16 years and 341 days, made his first team début for Genk on 17 April 2009 against Gent. He was a key figure in Genk's title victory in the 2010–11 season in the Belgian Pro League. He received the Goalkeeper of the Year and Genk's Player of the Year award, only conceding 32 goals over the course of 40 league matches and keeping 14 clean sheets for Genk.

In July 2011 Courtois joined Premier League club Chelsea for an undisclosed fee, signing a five-year deal.
Within weeks of joining Chelsea, Courtois was sent on a season-long loan to Atletico 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 Atletico Madrid.

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.

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 the 2012 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. 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.

In June 2014, Chelsea manager José Mourinho confirmed that Courtois would return to Chelsea for the upcoming season.

Courtois was first called up to the Belgium squad in October 2011 and made his début the following month in a friendly 0–0 against France, 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. He started in goal for Belgium's first game of the tournament, 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.