One of the most prestigious individual honours in football, the Golden Boy Award will be as competitive as ever for the 2026 edition.
The Tuttosport crown has awarded under-21s who went on to huge success such as Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero and many more.
As such, it’s one everyone wants to get their hands on, particularly as players seem to get more and more elite opportunities at younger and younger ages.
An official date for the 2026 edition is yet to be announced, with the 2025 awards, won by PSG’s Desire Doue, held in November.
New Golden Boy rankings
What we do know is that this year the awards are partnering with Transfermarkt, who will help deter mine the 100 nominees.
The transfer and statistic experts have put together a formula to decide the top 100, and with the World Cup set to be decisive, they’ve revealed their current rankings.
Well clear at the top is Barcelona and Spain’s Lamine Yamal, but he won’t be running.
Golden Boy rules state a previous winner can’t be considered again.
Players over the age of 21 are also out of the running, meaning Doue now falls out of two of the criteria.
Instead, his teammate Warren Zaïre-Emery is the favourite, second in the rankings behind Lamine.
Spain and Barca’s Pau Cubarsi sits third, Leipzig and Ivory Coast’s Yan Diomande fourth, with Morocco and Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi a riser in fifth thanks to his World Cup performances.
Current Golden Boy Award ranking
| Ranking | Player | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lamine Yamal (ineligible) | Barcelona | 82.4 |
| 2 | W. Zaïre-Emery | PSG | 75.2 |
| 3 | Pau Cubarsí | Barcelona | 73.5 |
| 4 | Y. Diomande | Leipzig | 71.5 |
| 5 | A. Bouaddi | Lille | 65.9 |
| 6 | Estêvão | Chelsea | 65.1 |
| 7 | V. Froholdt | Porto | 64.6 |
| 8 | L. Karl | Bayern Munich | 62.2 |
| 9 | Endrick | Real Madrid | 62.1 |
| 10 | Rayan | Bournemouth | 61.9 |
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