As of Wednesday evening, only 25 players remain in the running for the prestigious Golden Boy award. Among them are two Bundesliga youngsters, while Lamine Yamal has been excluded.
At least in theory, a duo from the Bundesliga can hope to be named Golden Boy 2025 in November. Eliesse Ben Seghir of Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Jobe Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund are on the final shortlist, which was announced on Wednesday evening by Italian newspaper Tuttosport, the organizer of the award.
The trophy has been awarded every year since 2003 to the best U-21 player in Europe. This year, only youngsters born after January 1, 2005, were eligible. In May, Tuttosport initially published a list of 100 candidates, which has now been shortened to 20 with the help of a data index.
In addition, there are five so-called wildcards, which are awarded by the editorial team of the traditional newspaper. Bellingham also benefited from this rule, as he would otherwise not have made the cut. The data index accumulates numerous player statistics, including the strength of the respective club and the total playing time.
This year’s big favorite is French international Desiré Doué, who shone for Paris Saint-Germain with a brace in the Champions League final against Inter Milan (5-0), among other achievements. The Premier League has the largest contingent among the 25 players with nine, followed by La Liga and Ligue 1 (four each). PSG and Real Madrid each have three nominated players in their ranks. Not on the list is Lamine Yamal, who would otherwise be unrivaled: the 18-year-old from FC Barcelona won last year, but according to the rules, he is no longer eligible to compete in the coming years. A new winner is to be crowned every year.
The 25 nominees for the Golden Boy 2025:
Pau Cubarsi (FC Barcelona)
Desiré Doué (Paris Saint-Germain)
Dean Huijsen (AFC Bournemouth/Real Madrid)
Kenan Yildiz (Juventus Turin)
Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal FC)
Warren Zaire-Emery (Paris Saint-Germain)
Arda Güler (Real Madrid)
Franco Mastantuono (River Plate/Real Madrid)
Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal FC)
Jorrel Hato (Ajax Amsterdam/Chelsea FC)
Geovany Quenda (Sporting Lisbon)
Estevao (Palmeiras/Chelsea FC)
Leny Yoro (Manchester United)
Senny Mayulu (Paris Saint-Germain)
Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City)
Eliesse Ben Seghir (AS Monaco/Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Victor Froholdt (FC Copenhagen/FC Porto)
Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham Hotspur)
Archie Gray (Tottenham Hotspur)
Mamadou Sarr (RC Strasbourg)
Jobe Bellingham (AFC Sunderland/Borussia Dortmund)* Pio Esposito (Spezia Calcio/Inter Milan)* Rodrigo Mora (FC Porto)* Giovanni Leoni (Parma Calcio/FC Liverpool)* Aleksandar Stankovic (FC Luzern/Club Brugge)*
