Bellingham’s successor
©IMAGO
European champion Lamine Yamal from FC Barcelona was awarded the prestigious “Golden Boy” award. The three Bundesliga talents Aleksandar Pavlovic (20) and Mathys Tel (19) from FC Bayern as well as Jamie Gittens (20) from BVB were among the 25 finalists in the election by the Italian sports newspaper “Tuttosport”, but came away empty-handed. Lamine Yamal was also the most valuable professional on the shortlist with a market value of 150 million euros. He replaced last year’s winner Jude Bellingham (21).
The award is based on the talents who stood out for their clubs and national teams through particularly good performances within the last calendar year – i.e. across all seasons. Condition: You must be under 21 years old and have played in Europe during the relevant evaluation period. Lamine Yamal had already received the Kopa trophy as the best youngster at the Ballon d’Or ceremony at the end of October.
Since 2022, the selection process has been carried out using an algorithm called the “Golden Boy Index”. This is mainly made up of sporting performance, playing time and club strength. The twenty best talents from the index as well as five wildcards chosen by the “Tuttosport” editorial team made it to the final, where the jury selected the winner from a total of 50 journalists from all over Europe. The award has been presented since 2003.
