Who Is Football’s Most Successful Benchwarmer of All-Time? Scott Carson vs Tom Starke

Substitutes play a bigger role in football than ever before. Most elite competitions now allow five substitutions per team per game, while benches can now accommodate up to 12 players in UEFA club competitions.

But despite more subs being named and used, there are still players who seem to spend most of their careers warming the bench without ever getting on the pitch.

Most specialist benchwarmers tend to be goalkeepers — often the third-choice. These players are always on standby but rarely called into action.

So who is football’s most successful benchwarmer? Before answering that, we must first decide what defines success. If it is trophies won while warming the bench, then there are two standout candidates.

One is former Bayern Munich backup stopper Tom Starke and the other is Scott Carson, who announced his retirement this week at the age of 40.

Which player has won the most trophies as a benchwarmer?

Scott Carson won 11 trophies in six seasons as a Manchester City player, but only got on the pitch in two matches. That effectively means he won 5.5 trophies per game played. Carson’s trophy haul with City includes the UEFA Champions League, which he also won from the bench with Liverpool.

However, there is another benchwarming goalkeeper who won even more silverware than Carson. That is Tom Starke, who lifted 14 trophies at Bayern Munich during the final six seasons of his ‘playing’ career.

Starke had to play significantly more than Carson, making 12 first-team appearances over those six seasons and therefore averaging just 1.17 trophies per match.

Scott Carson’s record at Manchester City

• Six seasons on the playing staff
• Two games played
• 11 trophies won (4x Premier League, 1x Champions League, 1x FA Cup, 2x EFL Cup, 1x Community Shield, 1x UEFA Super Cup, 1x FIFA Club World Cup)

Tom Starke’s record at Bayern Munich

• Six seasons on the playing staff
• 12 games played
• 14 trophies won (6x Bundesliga, 1x Champions League, 3x DFB-Pokal, 2x DFL-Supercup, 1x UEFA Super Cup, 1x FIFA Club World Cup)

Who did Scott Carson play against during his Man City career?

Scott Carson’s one and only start for Manchester City came late in the 2020/21 Premier League season during a 4-3 away win at Newcastle. He made two saves, including one to keep out a Joseph Willock penalty, although Willock scored from the rebound.

His only other City outing was a 17-minute cameo in a 0-0 draw against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League the following March, after Ederson picked up an injury. Carson made one save during this match.

In total, Carson had 24 touches of the ball during his City career. For context, Elliot Anderson, who is one of the Premier League players with the most touches this season, has touched the ball 808 times in his last eight games.

Man City’s results with Scott Carson in the team

Match result	Mins	Comp	Date
Newcastle 3-4 Man City	90	Premier League	May 14, 2021
Man City 0-0 Sporting	17	Champions League	March 9, 2022

Who were Tom Starke’s 12 Bayern Munich games against?

All of Tom Starke’s 12 Bayern Munich appearances came as a starter. He kept clean sheets in eight of them as Bayern beat Kaiserslautern, Hoffenheim, Nuremberg, Freiburg, Hannover, Frankfurt and Cologne to nil. He also saved a penalty in a 1-0 win over Darmstadt.

But Starke was involved in some high-scoring affairs too, including a 5-4 victory away at RB Leipzig in May 2017 and a 3-3 draw with Hoffenheim in March 2014.

Bayern only lost one game with Starke in their team, a 4-2 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 DFL-Supercup.

Bayern Munich’s results with Tom Starke in the team

Match result	Mins	Comp	Date
Bayern Munich 4-0 Kaiserslautern	90	DFB-Pokal	Oct 31, 2012
Hoffenheim 0-1 Bayern Munich	90	Bundesliga	Mar 3, 2013
Bayern Munich 4-0 Nuremberg	90	Bundesliga	Apr 13, 2013
Bayern Munich 1-0 Freiburg	90	Bundesliga	Apr 27, 2013
Dortmund 4-2 Bayern Munich	90	DFL-Supercup	Jul 27, 2013
Hannover 0-4 Bayern Munich	90	Bundesliga	Feb 23, 2014
Bayern Munich 3-3 Hoffenheim	90	Bundesliga	Mar 29, 2014
Bayern Munich 1-0 Darmstadt	90	Bundesliga	May 6, 2017
RB Leipzig 4-5 Bayern Munich	90	Bundesliga	May 13, 2017
Bayern Munich 4-1 Freiburg	90	Bundesliga	May 20, 2017
Frankfurt 0-1 Bayern Munich	90	Bundesliga	Dec 9, 2017
Bayern Munich 1-0 Cologne	90	Bundesliga	Dec 13, 2017

How much did Scott Carson earn at Man City?

Scott Carson’s basic salary at Manchester City was estimated to be around £30,000 per week after he signed his final contract in 2022. That is significantly less than the current wage of new City No 1 Gianluigi Donnarumma, who tops the list of the highest-paid Premier League goalkeepers.

Over the full duration of his six seasons at the Etihad Stadium, it is believed that Carson earned close to £8.5 million. That means he made just over £2.8m per save and just over £79,000 per playing minute.

However, much of Carson’s work took place on the training pitch, where he played an important support role to the other goalkeepers.

Carson said in 2023, as quoted by ManCity.com: “I’m the third choice goalkeeper. I think it’s half of my job role to help the lads if they need anything.

“The other two lads are playing a lot more games than me and could be called upon at any time so if they want me to do a bit of shooting or crossing I am there to help them. If that means I’m there longer, it’s not a massive thing to do. That’s part of my role to be there to do that.”

On Ederson, who was City’s No 1 keeper for eight seasons between 2017 and 2025, Carson added: “He’s a top fella. I don’t know what goes on in his head sometimes. In the first two or three weeks I didn’t have a clue what he was saying and he probably didn’t understand me but after that, he’d say something and I’d just laugh.

“From then, we just started getting on. I like a laugh and a joke but on the training ground he can see how hard I train and that respect that we’ve got for each other is easy for everyone to see.”

How much did Tom Starke earn at Bayern Munich?

It is estimated that Tom Starke earned around €6.2 million (£5.4 million) during his six seasons as a Bayern Munich player.

Starke’s final contract was a one-year deal signed in 2017 that reportedly saw his weekly wage more than halved.

So… who is the most successful benchwarmer?

Both Scott Carson and Tom Starke may not have played much, especially in the latter years of their career, but their medal cabinets hint at a story of consistency, professionalism and value beyond matchdays.

Carson played less for City than Starke did for Bayern, while the German won slightly more.

But Carson made a massive impact in Manchester, which was made clear by the reaction to his retirement this week.

Reacting to his announcement post on Instagram, former teammates Ederson and Fernandinho both used emojis to call Carson the GOAT, while Manuel Akanji, Kalvin Phillips, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker all hailed him as a “legend”.