Who is better, van der Vaart or Lehmann?
Jens Lehmann leads with a GOAT score of 79.9 against 79.8 for Rafael van der Vaart — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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van der Vaart vs Lehmann
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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
LehmannWinner
79.9Lehmann wins: Longevity
van der Vaart
79.8van der Vaart wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours
Candidates
Locked to FootballShareable URL · /compare/rafael-van-der-vaart-vs-jens-lehmann
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇩🇪 Jens Lehmann
79.9
Lehmann leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Jens Lehmann
2. Rafael van der Vaart
Category breakdown
Season form · Goals per season
Career timeline · Goals per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Goals per season
1. 🇳🇱 Rafael van der Vaart46 goals
5 seasons by age 21 · 9.2 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
2. 🇩🇪 Jens Lehmann40 goals
2 seasons by age 21 · 20 per season
Lehmann is -13.0% behind van der Vaart's pace at age 21
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | van der VaartRetired | LehmannRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Netherlands caps | 109 | — |
| Netherlands goals | 25 | — |
| Eredivisie titles | 2 | — |
| Golden Boy awards | 1 | — |
| Career league goals | 135 | — |
| Premier League titles | — | 1 |
| Bundesliga titles | — | 1 |
| UEFA Cup titles | — | 1 |
| UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year | — | 2 |
| Germany caps | — | 61 |
| Dominance w25% | 80 | 78 |
| Peak w20% | 86 | 85 |
| Longevity w20% | 75 | 82 |
| Honours w20% | 78 | 75 |
| Statistics w15% | 80 | 80 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Lehmann79.9
van der Vaart79.8
The people
van der Vaart
Lehmann
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Where does van der Vaart beat Lehmann?
van der Vaart scores higher on peak, dominance, honours. Lehmann leads on longevity.
How is the van der Vaart vs Lehmann score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. van der Vaart: 79.8, Lehmann: 79.9.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for van der Vaart vs Lehmann. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.