The winner of this year’s Golden Boy award will be announced in November, followed by a ceremony in Turin, Italy, on December 16. This year’s shortlist of 20 names was announced on October 17, including many stars who are mainstays of Europe’s top football teams.
Some notable stars include Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona); Joao Neves, Warren Zaire-Emery and Desire Doue (PSG); Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro (Manchester United); Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace); Wilson Odobert (Tottenham Hotspur) and Endrick (Real Madrid).
With the Ballon d'Or, a player can win the award multiple times, but this is not the case with the Golden Boy. Once a rising star wins the award, they will not have a second chance to do so. Since the award's inception, 13 countries have won the Golden Boy. Of these, Spain (4) and England (3) are the countries with the most Golden Boys.
In this year's list, Lamine Yamal (17 years old) of Barcelona is emerging as the leading candidate for the No. 1 position. The young star of La Masia is an indispensable core of the Spanish team in the journey to win EURO 2024. He even leads in the number of assists. After the success in Germany, Yamal is increasingly noticed because of his still great potential, proven by his increasingly mature playing style in Barca's shirt.
After Yamal, PSG's Joao Neves (19 years old) is also a name with a high chance of winning. Last summer, he moved to PSG from Benfica for a price of up to 60 million pounds. Next, the Man United duo Alejandro Garnacho (20 years old) - Kobbie Mainoo (19 years old) are considered to be in the Top.
In recent years, the Golden Boy (of Tuttosport) has faced fierce competition from the Kopa Trophy (France Football's version of the Ballon d'Or for under-21 stars). However, the owner of the Golden Boy in recent years has always been the one to win the Kopa Trophy afterwards.
To expand the influence of the award, Tuttosport also launched a Golden Boy Web version. On this online page, fans can freely vote for their favorite names, instead of just waiting for the results of the version for journalists and leading experts. In 2022, Nicola Zalewski (Poland, AS Roma) won the Web version and Gavi (Spain, Barcelona) won the Golden Boy. Only Jude Bellingham (England, Real Madrid) has succeeded in winning the Golden Boy and Golden Boy Web.
