Summary
The Golden Boy award was created in 2003 to honour the best young talents in European football.
Since then, a number of players that went on to have exceptional careers have been named as a winner of the award.
Unlike in 2024, the race for this year's Golden Boy is wide open, with a number of potential winners.
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 are the country that have 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. Lamine Yamal is the latest sensation to be named as Golden Boy, but as the rules stipulate, he can not reclaim the award. So, which players are in the race to be named as the 2025 Golden Boy of European football?
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Ranking Factors
Players in this list have been included due to their strong performances across the season so far, though there is still much football to be played in 2025, so some cases may grow more convincing as the year goes on. As aforementioned, there is a strict criteria for the Golden Boy awards, which is:
Only players under the age of 21 are eligible
Must be playing European football
Anyone who turns 21 in 2025 can not win the award
People who have won before–like Yamal–can not win again
Golden Boy 2025 Power Rankings
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10 Jorrel Hato
Ajax
Jorrel Hato
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, Hato made his debut for the senior side in 2023 and hasn’t looked back since.
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.
9 Endrick
Real Madrid
Endrick at his Real Madrid unveiling
Even before his move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2024, Endrick had already established himself as a star with Palmeiras, so much so that Los Blancos agreed a deal to sign the sensation in 2022 for when he turned 18. Endrick’s reveal as a Real Madrid player was, understandably, met with much fanfare.
It can be easy to forget just how young Endrick is given the amount of attention he has received already in his career, but the Brazil international has underwhelmed in Europe thus far when held against his expectations. Of course, Endrick still has years to reach his incredible potential, but it does not feel as though this year’s Golden Boy will be going to the Santiago Bernabeu.
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8 Eliesse Ben Seghir
Monaco
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To date, Eliesse Ben Seghir has spent his entire senior career with Monaco, having joined their youth set-up in 2020 and debuting in Ligue 1 two years later. Since then, Ben Seghir has developed steadily, earning his first call up to the Moroccan national team in 2024 as his importance in the Monaco side has only grown.
Monaco are scarcely strangers to producing exciting attacking talents; from Thierry Henry to Kylian Mbappe and now, Ben Seghir, who has nine goal contributions in a Ligue 1 season that has seen Monaco maintain their push for Champions League qualification.
7 Tom Bischof
Hoffenheim
After seven years of development in their youth academy, Tom Bischof made his senior debut for Hoffenheim in 2022 and since then, has grown and established himself as a key part of their midfield. In the 2024/25 season, Bischof has been one of the Bundesliga’s most consistent performers, despite being just 19 years old.
In the January transfer window, Bayern Munich confirmed that they had reached an agreement to sign Bischof on a free transfer in the summer, when he will sign a four-year deal. Perhaps with Bayern, the German youth international will find a pedestal that pushes his name further into Golden Boy conversations.
6 Kenan Yildiz
Juventus
Kenan Yildiz
Born in Germany, Kenan Yildiz spent over a decade playing youth football in his home country before moving to Juventus in 2022, spending a year with their academy before debuting for the senior side in 2023. Since then, particularly under the management of Thiago Motta, Yildiz has developed massively.
Now a regular for the Turkish international side, Yildiz has been a consistent source of brilliance for Motta as part of a Juve team that have endured an interesting season. Though they are out of the Champions League, they have suffered just two defeats in Serie A and are primed to make a push for the title.
5 Dean Huijsen
Bournemouth
Dean Huijsen in action for Bournemouth
Dean Huijsen signed for Juventus as a youth player in 2021 and rose to the senior side two years later. The defender spent the latter half of the 2023/24 season on loan at Roma, where he found far more minutes than he got in Turin. The form that he showed saw suitors circle and in the 2024 summer window, he moved to Bournemouth for an initial fee of just under £13 million.
Under the management of Andoni Iraola, Huijsen has grown rapidly as a player, improving on every facet of his game that made him such a promising talent in the first place. A centre-back, Huijsen is composed on the ball and exceptional at driving forward, along with being a brilliant defender, making him one of the most talked-about prospects in the world.
Huijsen certainly has a case to make for the 2025 Golden Boy and if reports are to be believed, Huijsen has a £50 million release clause that will activate in the summer transfer window. Should a bigger team choose to take that option up, it could bolster the Spanish youth international’s chances at the award.
4 Ethan Nwaneri
Arsenal
Ethan Nwaneri
A north London-born product of Hale End, Ethan Nwaneri is one of Arsenal’s recent success stories with regards to their youth academy. Comfortable playing in either the 10 or on the wing, Nwaneri made history in 2022 when he made his Premier League debut against Brentford at just 15 years old as the division’s youngest-ever debutant.
Since then, Mikel Arteta has overseen a steady development of Nwaneri, who truly broke into the Arsenal first team in the 2024/25 season. Still just 17 years old, Nwaneri became the second-youngest English goalscorer in the Champions League during Arsenal’s 7-1 demolition of PSV Eindhoven, a glimpse at the player he could become with time.
Though he may not top the power rankings, Nwaneri’s name will certainly be mentioned when debating the next Golden Boy winner.
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3 Desire Doue
Paris Saint-Germain
It is a new era for Paris Saint-Germain. Gone are the mega stars such as Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi and in their place sits a team of younger players in a more cohesive side under Luis Enrique. PSG have, especially since the turn of 2025, been one of the best sides on the continent, knocking Liverpool, one of the favourites, out of the Champions League.
Though he is not a guaranteed starter, Desire Doue has played a large role in PSG’s success this season. Enrique often rotates his team and any time Doue plays, he is often one of the best players on the pitch, having joined PSG from Stade Rennais in the summer. Still just 19 years old, Doue is one of the favourites for the upcoming Golden Boy award.
2 Warren Zaire-Emery
Paris Saint-Germain
Warren Zaire-Emery in action for PSG
The second of two Paris Saint-Germain players to feature in this list, it can be easy to forget that Warren Zaire-Emery has only just turned 19, given he has played in over 100 senior matches for his boyhood team. After joining their youth set-up in 2014, Zaire-Emery spent eight years progressing through the ranks before linking up with the first team.
Now a French international, Zaire-Emery continues to play with an assured level of confidence that is far beyond his years. A natural centre midfielder, Zaire-Emery has shown comfort when deployed as either a right midfielder or a right-back, with versatility being yet another feather in the player’s cap.
Zaire-Emery has the chance to be the beating heart of a resurgent PSG side, who look set to win at least the league title by the 2024/25 season’s end. Should the Parisians do something special in the Champions League, however, which many may think possible after they overcame Liverpool, then Zaire-Emery could find himself named the Golden Boy of 2025.
1 Pau Cubarsi
Barcelona
Has a centre-back in recent memory looked so composed as immediately as Pau Cubarsi did after breaking into the Barcelona first team? A native of Catalonia, Cubarsi – one of the brightest young talents in the game – has become a mainstay in the Barca side under Hansi Flick and plays with a maturity that far outweighs his young age and inexperience.
It is not superlative to say that Cubarsi has one of the best passing ranges in Europe right now, with the centre-back adept at pinging forward long and accurate passes while possessing a strong defensive awareness. His red card against Benfica in the Champions League is his only real mishap to date which, considering the pressures of wearing a Barcelona shirt, is incredibly impressive for a teenager.
Like Zaire-Emery and Doue, Cubarsi is playing within a side that have a real shot at Champions League glory this season, something that would massively boost his case for the Golden Boy award. Realistically, however, the award is still well up for grabs, something that will only motivate any player in contention for it.
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( All stats are fromTransfermarktand are correct as of 12/03/2025 )