Back
Nov 3, 2026, 11:43 AM GMT
Sign in to your GiveMeSport account
Established in 2003, the Golden Boy award has become one of the most prestigious in football, given each year to the most impressive young player in Europe. There have been 22 winners of the award, with one of its criteria being that no player can win the award multiple times.
Created by Italian newspaper Tuttosport, the Golden Boy award has since grown to incorporate votes from a number of publications across Europe, such as l’Equipe in France, Bild in Germany and The Times in the United Kingdom. Spain is the country that has seen the most recipients of the award, with five Spaniards having been named Golden Boy since 2003.
The award is often given towards the end of the calendar year, incorporating two half-seasons, as it were, when deciding the winner. PSG starlet Desire Doue was the latest sensation to be named as Golden Boy, but as the rules stipulate, he can not reclaim the award in 2026.
Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly has been impressive in recent seasons, as has recently crowned world champions Pau Cubarsi, while Warren Zaire-Emery has been a key figure alongside Doue in the Ligue 1 champions' dominance under Luis Enrique.
But just who are the current favourites to take home the prize in 2026? Find out the top 15 contenders for the Golden Boy award below.
Players in this list have been included due to their strong performances across the last calendar year. As aforementioned, there are strict criteria for the Golden Boy awards, which are:
Having come through the ranks of Genk, a club that produced Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois among others, there are high hopes for Konstantinos Karetsas at Borussia Dortmund. The midfielder has shown maturity beyond his years, featuring in Belgium's top flight for two full seasons before the age of 18.
Unfortunately for Dortmund and Karetsas, his development in Germany has been set back by a series of ligament injuries, which will also affect his chances of winning the Golden Boy award.
Despite his relative youth, Argentina international Gianluca Prestianni has been a key member of the Benfica team over the course of the last two seasons and his performances at the beginning of the 2026/7 campaign have catapulted him into the conversation for the 2026 Golden Boy award.
There hasn't been an Argentine winner since Sergio Aguero scooped it in 2007 and Prestianni remains a firm outsider. Indeed, his altercation with Vinicius Jr in the 2025/26 Champions League, which saw him receive a six-match ban for verbal abuse while covering his mouth, is still fresh in the memory of many football fans and continues to be a mark against him.
Eli Junior Kroupi is going from strength to strength in the Premier League with Bournemouth and his performances on the south coast of England have forced giants such as Arsenal to sit up and take note. At the time of writing, the tricky French forward had yet to make his senior debut for Les Bleus, which is a testimony to their sheer strength in depth, but it is only a matter of time before he steps foot onto the international stage, and there are certainly high hopes that he can make an immediate impact.
Endrick's ascent in the football world has slowed down in the past few years, but the Brazil international has worked extremely hard to recapture the type of form that excited Real Madrid fans when he first arrived from Palmeiras. The striker went out on loan to Lyon last season and his performances in Ligue 1 earned him a place in Carlo Ancelotti's Brazil squad for the World Cup.
He returned to Madrid for 2026/27 with a new sense of purpose under Jose Mourinho, who saw a Tottenham move for Endrick thrown out, and he has shown glimpses of his magic touch, though it is likely too little, too late when it comes to his chances of winning this year's Golden Boy award, which hasn't been won by a Brazilian since Alexandre Pato was crowned winner in 2009.
The latest Brazilian wonderkid, Estevao has already shown flashes of why Chelsea spent big money to bring him in. The winger is extremely quick and tricky, and with close ball control to match, so he quicky established himself as part of Enzo Maresca's first-team squad last season.
He has struggled to have the same sort of impact under new boss Xabi Alonso, with his appearances being relatively limited, thus he finds himself sliding down this list away from the coveted prize.
In Lennart Karl, Bayern Munich have produced one of the most exciting young playmakers in Europe, and the diminutive attacking midfielder has already drawn comparisons to German greats such as Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller. Karl is a technical operator and one of the highest-potential wonderkids in EA Sports FC 27, and he made his breakthrough into the Bayern first-team in 2025/26, with Vincent Kompany instilling the teenage wonder with plenty of confidence.
Indeed, Karl's form for Bayern was enough to ensure senior international recognition and Julian Nagelsmann was suitably impressed to bring him to the 2026 World Cup in North America. New Germany boss Jurgen Klopp is also a fan and he is primed to figure prominently for Die Mannschaft for years to come.
Comfortable playing either in central defence or as a left-back, Jorrel Hato spent four years in the famous Ajax youth academy after joining them from Sparta Rotterdam in 2018. After spending some time playing with Jong Ajax, one of the best academies in world football, Hato made his debut for the senior side in 2023 and hasn’t looked back since, earning a move to Chelsea in the latest summer transfer window.
Hato is rightly regarded as one of Europe’s brightest talents, linked with Liverpool, and playing for a team who have a long history of producing star players – with examples as recent as Matthijs de Ligt, who won the Golden Boy award in 2018. As good as Hato is, however, there are other candidates better primed for this year’s edition of the award.
Rangy forward Rayan has thrived at Bournemouth and his performances towards the end of the 2025/26 season earned him a call up to Brazil's World Cup squad. He ended up playing more of a role for Carlo Ancelotti than first expected thanks to an injury to Raphinha, but he did not disappoint.
Since returning to the Premier League with the Cherries for 2026/27, Rayan has grown in stature and he is now a mainstay in the team and one of the best young players in the Premier League, forming a strong partnership with Eli Junior Kroup in particular.
Myles Lewis-Skelly enjoyed a fantastic breakthrough season in 2024/25, but saw his involvement scaled back somewhat in 2025/26 as Arsenal won the Premier League title. He has arguably been a victim of his own versatility, with his capacity to fill in at left-back as well as central midfield, but his quality is clear for all to see.
Indeed, Lewis-Skelly's long-term future appears to be at midfield — it just happens that his pathway has been somewhat crowded in North London and at international level. Once he is afforded more opportunities in his favoured role, we will likely see another surge in form.
An energetic box-to-box midfielder, Victor Froholdt has launched his name into the reckoning for the 2026 Golden Boy award thanks to a series of consistent displays for Porto. The Denmark international helped his club to the title in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, one of the most valuable leagues in world football, in 2025/26 and hit the ground running in 2026/27, chipping in with his share of goals from midfield.
Froholdt's performances earned him both the Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year awards in Portugal in 2025/26, which is precisely why the likes of Arsenal and Newcastle United have been monitoring his availability.
Back
Top
| Privacy Statement Terms of Service Contact |
Refresh
|
All the best breaking news stories from Apex Scores Lite. Optimised for feature phones and low end Android devices, Apex Scores Lite helps users with legacy devices and poor network connectivity access the latest football news and live scores. Particularly relevant for breaking football news in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.