France Football have announced the nominees for the 2025 Kopa trophy, with five players from Real Madrid and Barcelona in the running for the award. The award, which honours the best young players of the year, has been won by a player featuring in El Clasico for the last four years straight.
Most recently that was Lamine Yamal, who has again been nominated this season, although he is expected to be included in the nominees for the Ballon d’Or this season too. Prior to Spain’s teenage sensation, Jude Bellingham, Gavi and Pedri all won the award too.
Three Clasico nominees for men’s award
In the case of the men’s award, new Real Madrid signing Dean Huijsen, who joined the club for €60m from Bournemouth is amongst the nominees. He will be flanked by Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi in terms of the representation from La Liga, with all three sharing a dressing room for the Spanish national team. Given that Lamine Yamal is a candidate for the main award, Pau Cubarsi has been cast as one of the favourites.
Cubarsi celebrates his first Barcelona goal.
Image via EFE / El Nacional
Meanwhile Paris Saint-Germain duo Desire Doue and Joao Neves will have a strong case to win the award too, after their European domination. Rodrigo Mora (Porto), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Ayyoub Bouaddi (Lille), Estevao (Palmeiras/Chelsea) and Kenan Yildiz (Juventus) round out the list of ten nominees.
Despite the rise of other La Masia talents, Flick continues to sees strength and potential in Dani Rodríguez, who's recovering from a shoulder injury. @gbsans
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 7, 2025
Women’s Kopa trophy
On the women’s side, there are just five nominees, but Real Madrid and Barcelona make up a significant percentage of that list. Real Madrid have Colombian starlet Linda Caicedo involved, while Barcelona product Vicky Lopez has also been nominated.
Here are our 2025 Kopa Trophy nominees! #ballondor pic.twitter.com/N9SqGPrhmH
— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) August 7, 2025
England and Arsenal forward Michelle Agyemang may be their stiffest competition, after a significant contribution to her national side’s victory in Euro 2025. Claudia Martinez Ovando (Olimpia) and Wieke Kaptein (Chelsea) make up the list.