The Golden Boy award - best football player under 21 years

The Golden Boy award is an award given to the best player under 21 years old that plays in any of the European top tier leagues. The award was first handed out in 2003 and the very first of all winners of the award was the Dutch player Rafael van der Vaart.

The award did not get much attention from the beginning but over the years its popularity have grown and is now perhaps the most important award among the young football players.

Latest news and articles

Latest winner of the Golden Boy award - Pau Cubarsí

The winner of the Golden Boy award in 2026 is Barcelona's Pau Cubarsí, the forth winner from FC Barcelona in the last six years. One of the main reasons the talented defender won was his splendid performance this summer when Spain won the World Cup.

Previous winners

History of the Golden Boy award

The Golden Boy award was created by the Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport in 2003. Today there are several high profile football newspaper around Europe that has a saying about the award, you can read more about the award and its history here.