Who is the best under-21 footballer in Europe? The closest answer we may have is the Golden Boy award winner.
In 2023, it was Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham, but who from the 25-man shortlist will it be in 2024?
Since the award was first given to Rafael van der Vaart in 2003, there have been 21 winners, including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Wayne Rooney.
Though not all have gone on to reach those heights, the list of past winners includes players who have won the World Cup, European Championship and Copa America as well as numerous league titles in the club game.
With the shortlist now revealed, we take a look at the award, when and how will it be decided and who could win it this year.
What is the Golden Boy award?
Created by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport, it is given to the best under-21 footballer each year with Dutchman Van der Vaart, who was playing for Ajax at the time, winning in 2003. He went on to play for Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur and in the 2010 World Cup final defeat to Spain.
For a player to be considered for selection in 2024, they must have been born on or after January 1 2004 and belong to a squad in one of UEFA’s top 25 leagues (based on coefficients). This means anyone who turned 21 this year, such as Bayer Leverkusen and Germany attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, is not eligible.
How is the winner decided?
With a combination of data and journalist voting. Tuttosport uses a Football Benchmark data model to make a ‘Golden Boy Football Benchmark Index’.
This index ranks the top 100 eligible players monthly, on metrics such as minutes played and performances for national teams and clubs.
A shortlist is derived from the top 20 in this index from the October update, plus five wildcard selections awarded by Tuttosport. This shortlist was revealed at an event in Rome on October 17.
The shortlist is then put in front of a jury of 50 journalists, including reporters from The Athletic, to vote on.
When is the winner announced?
The 2024 award is planned to be officially announced on December 4 at an event in Turin.
Which players are on the shortlist for 2024?
The full list was announced on October 17 and features Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, PSG’s Joao Neves, Warren Zaire-Emery and Desire Doue and Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro of Manchester United as well as Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Wilson Odobert and Endrick of Real Madrid are among the five wild-card picks.
Here we are!!
The 25 finalists for the Golden Boy Absolute Best!
Who will be the next European Golden Воу?#GoldenBoyAwards#GBFBIndex#FootballBenchmark#Tuttosport pic.twitter.com/angrfih1sw— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyAwards) October 17, 2024
Who are the previous winners?
Kylian Mbappé for club & country in 2017:
51 games 🏃
25 goals ⚽️
12 assists 🅰️Golden Boy. pic.twitter.com/n0WLK6x9rU
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 23, 2017
Rooney (2004), Messi (2005), Paul Pogba (2013), Mbappe (2017) and Haaland (2020) are among the names to win the award. They are all one-time winners — because you can only win the award once.
Other names on the list include Anderson, the former Manchester United midfielder, and Alexandre Pato, who played for AC Milan and, briefly, Chelsea and former Manchester City and Inter Milan forward Mario Balotelli.
Golden Boy winners have come from 13 different countries with Spain (four) and England (three) leading the way.
|
Year
|
Winner
|
|---|---|
|
2003
|
Rafael van der Vaart
|
|
2004
|
Wayne Rooney
|
|
2005
|
Lionel Messi
|
|
2006
|
Cesc Fabregas
|
|
2007
|
Sergio Aguero
|
|
2008
|
Anderson
|
|
2009
|
Alexandre Pato
|
|
2010
|
Mario Balotelli
|
|
2011
|
Mario Gotze
|
|
2012
|
Isco
|
|
2013
|
Paul Pogba
|
|
2014
|
Raheem Sterling
|
|
2015
|
Anthony Martial
|
|
2016
|
Renato Sanches
|
|
2017
|
Kylian Mbappe
|
|
2018
|
Matthijs de Ligt
|
|
2019
|
Joao Felix
|
|
2020
|
Erling Haaland
|
|
2021
|
Pedri
|
|
2022
|
Gavi
|
|
2023
|
Jude Bellingham
|
Who could win in 2024?
It’s hard to look past Lamine Yamal after the 17-year-old Barcelona winger led Euro 2024 in assists and helped Spain to the title. He has started this campaign strongly, scoring his first Champions League goal and helping Hansi Flick’s team to the top of La Liga.
Other possible contenders are 19-year-old Portuguese midfielder Joao Neves, who made a €60million move from Benfica to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, and Manchester United duo Kobbie Mainoo, the 19-year-old English midfielder, and Alejandro Garnacho, the 20-year-old Argentinian winger.
Anything else we should know?
France Football magazine, the presenters of the Ballon d’Or with UEFA, have their own version of a trophy for the best under-21 player called the Kopa Trophy. It is named after the winner of the 1958 Ballon d’Or Frenchman Raymond Kopa and started in 2018. Since then, Golden Boy and Kopa Trophy winners have been the same every year.
There is also a Golden Boy Web, voted for by fans online. Voting takes place here. The winners of this award have differed from the Golden Boy winner, as in 2022 when Roma’s Nicola Zalewski, the Polish full-back, won the web award and Barcelona midfielder Gavi of Spain the Golden Boy. Only Bellingham has succeeded in winning the Golden Boy and Golden Boy Web.
(Top photo: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
