PAU CUBARSI beat EIGHT Premier League stars to glory as he was named the 2026 Golden Boy winner.

The annual award is handed out to the world’s best player under the age of 21.

Previous winners include some of the sport’s biggest names, such as Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

But Monday’s ceremony, held at Serie A side Sassuolo’s Mapei Football Center, saw a rare case of the prestigious accolade being handed to a defender.

Barcelona star Cubarsi, 19, put together quite the CV this year after starring in La Blaugrana’s La Liga title-winning defence.

But he really blew the competition away with his showings at the US World Cup, in which he played every single minute on Spain’s way to the trophy.

That included a gruelling 120-minute showdown with Argentina in the final, where he managed to keep a clean sheet against the likes of Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez.

The only other defender to have won the award since its debut in 2003 is Manchester United man Matthijs de Ligt, who was given the award in 2018 for his heroic performances with Ajax.

Cubarsi did not have to worry about competition from his 19-year-old team-mate Lamine Yamal after his Ballon d’Or snub as he was ineligible, having won the Golden Boy award himself two years ago.

But he did have to beat competition from a number of Prem stars, with Brighton’s Luka Vuskovic, Bournemouth’s Junior Kroupi and Manchester City’s Ayyoub Bouaddi just some of the talent that made the 25-man shortlist last month.

The shortlist was compiled based on a model created in partnership with football data giant Transfermarkt.

Then a group of selected journalists from around Europe were invited to vote on who would receive the title of “absolute best”.