Peter Philip Bonetti (27 September 1941 – 12 April 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Chelsea, the St. Louis Stars, Dundee United and England. He was known for his safe handling, lightning reflexes and his graceful style, for which he was given the nickname "The Cat". He was one of several goalkeepers (Gordon West of Everton was another) who specialised in a one-armed throw which could achieve a similar distance to a drop kick.

Bonetti played seven times for England, but mainly served the team as a back-up to Gordon Banks; he was part of the winning England squad for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, but did not play. He belatedly received a winners' medal in 2009, after the Football Association led a successful campaign for non-playing members of the squad to be recognised. After Banks fell ill before the 1970 FIFA World Cup quarter-final, Bonetti played as England lost 3–2 to West Germany.

Bonetti was born in Putney, southwest London. His family moved to Worthing, Sussex in 1948. His parents ran a café on the seafront next to the Dome Cinema. They were Swiss-Italian emigrants from Ticino. Bonetti attended St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Worthing. He shone at an early age, playing for Worthing.

Chelsea signed him from the Reading youth team after his mother had written to manager Ted Drake, requesting that he give her son a trial. Whilst a Chelsea junior, Bonetti made five appearances for Croydon Amateurs in the Surrey Senior League thanks to youth team coach Albert Tennant who was also coaching Croydon at that time. He made his first team debut in 1960, and a few weeks later helped the Chelsea youth team win the FA Youth Cup. From the 1960–61 season onward, he was Chelsea's first-choice goalkeeper, a position he held more-or-less constantly for the next nineteen years.

Chelsea were relegated in Bonetti's second full season, which saw the appointment of Tommy Docherty as manager. Bonetti emerged as a key figure in a talented young team which included Bobby Tambling, Terry Venables, John Hollins and Barry Bridges. The team went into the penultimate match of the season needing to beat promotion rivals Sunderland to have a chance of going up. Chelsea won 1–0, with Bonetti making a brilliant last minute save to deny George Mulhall and maintain his team's promotion chances; a 7–0 win over Portsmouth secured instant promotion back to the First Division.

The new Chelsea team challenged for honours during the 1960s, with Bonetti a key figure throughout, although more often than not the team narrowly missed out. The club won the League Cup in 1965 with a 3–2 aggregate victory over Leicester City. Leicester put Chelsea under heavy pressure in the second leg at Filbert Street, but an inspired performance from Bonetti helped secure a 0–0 draw, and thus the trophy for his team. For most of that season Chelsea were on course to add both the league title and the FA Cup, but ultimately missed out. They were beaten by Liverpool in the FA Cup; meanwhile, their title challenge ended with a few matches left, following a bust-up between Docherty and several of his first-team players (though not Bonetti). The disunity behind the scenes meant that a much-weakened team was fielded in a key match against Burnley, in which Bonetti conceded six goals.

Bonetti played in every match of Chelsea's Inter-Cities Fairs Cup run the following season, putting in a series of impressive displays against the likes of Roma, A.C. Milan and Barcelona, though the team was eventually knocked out in the semi-final, as they were in the FA Cup for the second consecutive year. The signing of Alex Stepney at the end of that season briefly threatened his position as Chelsea's first-choice goalkeeper, and he considered putting in a transfer request, but Stepney ultimately made only one appearance for the club and was sold to Manchester United a few months later. Chelsea eventually reached an FA Cup final in 1967, where they faced Tottenham Hotspur, but the team got outplayed on the day and Bonetti could do little to stop Spurs winning 2–1.

That was the closest he came to winning another trophy with Chelsea until 1970, by which time Docherty had been succeeded by Dave Sexton. In 1970, Chelsea again reached the FA Cup final and this time faced reigning league champions Leeds United. Over the two fiercely contested matches, Bonetti had what was perhaps the finest moment of his playing career. Chelsea were outplayed for large spells in the first final at Wembley Stadium and he made a series of crucial saves to help them emerge with a 2–2 draw. Shortly into the replay at Old Trafford, his left knee was badly injured after a challenge from Leeds' Mick Jones. He returned to the field after treatment, but was effectively playing on one leg for the rest of the match and was powerless to stop Jones scoring the opener a few minutes later. In spite of the injury, and being targeted by the Leeds forwards, he made crucial saves throughout the match, denying both Peter Lorimer and Terry Cooper, and resisted more pressure from Leeds after Chelsea had taken the lead in extra time to help secure a 2–1 win. Such were Bonetti's performances that season, he was voted runner-up in the FWA Footballer of the Year awards.