The most players are from Spain — 25 nominees for the Golden Boy award have been announced

Italian newspaper Tuttosport has published a list of 25 nominees for the 2026 Golden Boy award, which is awarded annually to the best young footballer in Europe under the age of 21. The list of 25 finalists includes players from 14 countries, with Spain leading the way, while the English Premier League leads among the leagues. Meanwhile, “Barcelona” is the club with the largest number of representatives, reports UNN. 

Details 

The list includes the 20 best players from Transfermarkt’s October update of the European Golden Boy Top 100 ranking, as well as five footballers who received wild cards.

First place, and the main favorite for the award, is Spaniard Pau Cubarsí of Catalan club “Barcelona”, who was named the best young player at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

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In second place is Cubarsí’s “Barça” teammate Lamine Yamal, but he cannot receive the award because, under the prize rules, one footballer cannot win the Golden Boy twice. Yamal won the award in 2024. 

The top three is rounded out by Manchester City defensive midfielder Ayoub Bouaddi, who joined the “Citizens” this summer for €95 million. 

Next came Champions League winner Warren Zaïre-Emery of “PSG” and winger Yan Diomande, a teammate of Andriy Lunin at “Real”. 

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Next are Croatian Luka Vušković of “Brighton”, Dane Victor Froholdt of “Porto”, Englishman Myles Lewis-Skelly of “Arsenal”, Brazilian Ryan of “Bournemouth”, and rounding out the top ten is Dutchman Jorrel Hato of “Chelsea”.

Those ranked 10th–20th are: 

• Lennart Karl (Germany, “Bayern”);
• Estevão (Brazil, “Chelsea”);
• Endrick (Brazil, “Real”);
• Eli Junior Kroupi (France, “Bournemouth”);
• Gianluca Prestianni (Argentina, “Benfica”);
• Konstantinos Karetsas (Greece, “Borussia” Dortmund);
• Said El Mala (Germany, “Cologne”)”
• Jon Martín (Spain, “Real Sociedad”);
• Marc Bernal (Spain, “Barcelona”);
• Kerim Alajbegović (Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Juventus”);
• Finn Jeltsch  (Germany, “Stuttgart”). 

The Tuttosport editorial team also selected five more nominees for the award this season (Wild cards):

• Charalampos Kostoulas (Greece, “Brighton”);
• Joan Gado (France, “Borussia Dortmund”);
• Franco Mastantuono (Argentina, “Fiorentina”);
• Rodrigo Mora (Portugal, “Roma”);
• Javi Espart (Spain, “Barcelona”).

Additional information

The “Golden Boy” is an annual award presented to the best young player of the year in Europe. All nominees must be under 21 and play in the top division of one of the European leagues. The award has been presented every year since 2003 by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport.

The first winner of the award was Rafael van der Vaart of “Ajax”, whom Ukrainian forward Artem Stepanov does not know. 

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The 2026 Golden Boy winner will be selected by an international jury of 50 journalists. The name of the winner is scheduled to be announced in November.