25 nominees for the Golden Boy 2025 award announced: who is on the list

The Italian newspaper Tuttosport has published a list of 25 nominees for the Golden Boy 2025 award, which is given annually to the best young European footballer under the age of 21. France and England have the most representatives, UNN reports.

Golden Boy 2025 has reached its final stage, with the list of finalists vying for the European Golden Boy 2025 title announced today. This took place in Badia di Sant'Andrea, Genoa, at Italy's oldest sports boarding school. The list of 25 finalists competing for the main award includes the top 20 players according to the Golden Boy Index – a ranking compiled by Football Benchmark, the award's data and analytics partner, with the exception of the undisputed leader of the ranking, Lamine Yamal, who was excluded from the rules 

The list of 25 finalists comes from 13 countries, with France and England leading with 5 players each, followed by Spain, Italy, Turkey, and Portugal. With 9 candidates, the English Premier League tops the ranking of most represented championships, ahead of La Liga, Ligue 1, and the Portuguese League.

List of 20 nominees identified by Football Benchmark:

• Désiré Doué (PSG);
• Leny Yoro (Manchester United);
• Senny Mayulu (PSG);
• Warren Zaïre-Emery (PSG);
• Elies Ben Seghir (Bayer 04);
• Mamadou Sarr (owned by Chelsea, on loan at Strasbourg);
• Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal);
• Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City);
• Archie Gray (Tottenham);
• Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona);
• Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid);
• Kenan Yıldız (Juventus);
• Arda Güler (Real Madrid);
• Geovany Kenda (Sporting);
• Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid);
• Jorrel Hato (Chelsea);
• Estevão (Chelsea);
• Viktor Frogholdt (Porto);
• Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham).

Addition

The "Golden Boy" is an annual award given to the best young player of the year in Europe. All nominees must be under 21 years old and play in the top division of one of the European championships. The award has been presented annually since 2003 by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport.

The first winner of the award was Rafael Van der Vaart from "Ajax".

This year's trophy winner will be determined in Turin in November. It should be noted that the Tuttosport editorial board also selected 5 more nominees for the award this season (Wild-card):

• Jobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund);
• Pio Esposito (Inter);
• Rodrigo Mora (Porto);
• Giovanni Leoni (Liverpool);
• Aleksandar Stanković (Club Brugge);

Last year's award was won by Spanish winger Lamine Yamal of "Barcelona", and therefore, according to the regulations, he cannot participate in the voting, because the award is given only once.

Recall

The best young player of the 2024/25 season was won by Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal, and the best young female player in the world was Barcelona midfielder Vicky López.

In Paris, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, the best player in the world for the 2024/2025 season was determined - the "Ballon d'Or" award. The men's "Ballon d'Or" winner was French PSG winger Ousmane Dembélé, and the best female player in the world for the third time in a row was Barcelona footballer Aitana Bonmatí.