Golden Boy (award)

For other uses, see Golden Boy.

The Golden Boy is an award established by Tuttosport that is given by sports journalists to a young male footballer playing in Europe perceived to have been the most impressive during a calendar year (two halves to two separate seasons). All nominees must be under the age of 21 and play in a European nation's top tier. Apart from the main award, an additional one, Golden Boy Web, is decided by online users.^[1]

Golden Boy

Sport	Association football
Country	Italy
Presented by	Tuttosport
History
First award	2003
Editions	22
Most recent	Jude Bellingham
Website	tuttosport.com

Selection

The prize was established by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport in 2003. Newspapers that now participate in voting include Bild (Germany), Blick (Switzerland), A Bola (Portugal), l'Équipe (France), France Football (France), Marca (Spain), Mundo Deportivo (Spain), Ta Nea (Greece), Sport Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), and The Times (United Kingdom). Each juror is allowed to nominate five players, the juror will allocate 10 points to the player that they perceive as the most impressive, 7 for second, 5 third, 3 fourth, and 1 point for fifth most impressive.^{[citation needed]}

Winners

Rafael van der Vaart, the inaugural award winner

Year	Winner	Club(s)	Position	Birth year	Ref(s)
2003	Rafael van der Vaart	Ajax	Midfielder	1983	[2]
2004	Wayne Rooney	Everton Manchester United	Forward	1985	[2]
2005	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Forward	1987	[2]
2006	Cesc Fàbregas	Arsenal	Midfielder	1987	[2]
2007	Sergio Agüero	Atlético Madrid	Forward	1988	[2]
2008	Anderson	Manchester United	Midfielder	1988	[3]
2009	Alexandre Pato	Milan	Forward	1989	[4]
2010	Mario Balotelli	Inter Milan Manchester City	Forward	1990	[5]
2011	Mario Götze	Borussia Dortmund	Midfielder	1992	[6]
2012	Isco	Málaga	Midfielder	1992	[7]
2013	Paul Pogba	Juventus	Midfielder	1993	[8]
2014	Raheem Sterling	Liverpool	Forward	1994	[9]
2015	Anthony Martial	Monaco Manchester United	Forward	1995	[10]
2016	Renato Sanches	Benfica Bayern Munich	Midfielder	1997	[11]
2017	Kylian Mbappé	Monaco Paris Saint-Germain	Forward	1998	[12]
2018	Matthijs de Ligt	Ajax	Defender	1999	[13]
2019	João Félix	Benfica Atlético Madrid	Forward	1999	[14]
2020	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund	Forward	2000	[15]
2021	Pedri	Barcelona	Midfielder	2002	[16]
2022	Gavi	Barcelona	Midfielder	2004	[17]
2023	Jude Bellingham	Borussia Dortmund Real Madrid	Midfielder	2003	[18]

Awards won by position

As of 25 July 2024

Position	Win(s)
Forward	10
Midfielder	10
Defender	1

Awards won by nationality

As of 12 July 2024

Country	Win(s)	Year(s)
Spain	4	2006, 2012, 2021, 2022
England	3	2004, 2014, 2023
France		2013, 2015, 2017
Netherlands	2	2003, 2018
Argentina		2005, 2007
Brazil		2008, 2009
Portugal		2016, 2019
Italy	1	2010
Germany		2011
Norway		2020

Awards won by club

As of 25 July 2024

Year in bold have shared the win with other clubs.

Club	Win(s)	Year(s)
Barcelona	3	2005, 2021, 2022
Borussia Dortmund	3	2011, 2020, 2023[A]
Manchester United		2004,[B] 2008, 2015[C]
Ajax	2	2003, 2018
Atlético Madrid		2007, 2019[D]
Monaco		2015,[E] 2017[F]
Benfica		2016[G], 2019[H]
Everton	1	2004[E]
Arsenal		2006
Milan		2009
Manchester City		2010[I]
Inter Milan		2010[J]
Málaga		2012
Juventus		2013
Liverpool		2014
Bayern Munich		2016[D]
Paris Saint-Germain		2017[C]
Real Madrid		2023[K]

See also

• Bravo Award
• Kopa Trophy
• Ballon d'Or
• Golden Girl (award)

Notes

1. Shared with Real Madrid.
2. Shared with Everton.
3. Shared with Monaco.
4. Shared with Benfica.
5. Shared with Manchester United.
6. Shared with Paris Saint-Germain.
7. Shared with Bayern Munich.
8. Shared with Atlético Madrid.
9. Shared with Inter Milan.
10. Shared with Manchester City.
11. Shared with Borussia Dortmund.

References

1. "ZALEWSKI WINS 2022 EUROPEAN GOLDEN BOY WEB". asroma.com. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
2. "Golden Boy: l'Albo d'Oro". tuttosport.com. 6 December 2008. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
3. "È Anderson il Golden Boy 2008 di Tuttosport". tuttosport.com. 6 December 2008. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
4. "Pato vince il Golden Boy 2009: "Magari emulare Messi..."". tuttosport.com. 13 December 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
5. "Balotelli, Golden Boy 2010: "Un giorno sarò del Milan"". tuttosport.com. 21 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
6. "Borussia Dortmund's Mario Gotze lands 'Golden Boy' award for 2011". Goal.com. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
7. "Isco wins the 2012 Golden Boy award". insidespanishfootball.com. 22 December 2012. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
8. "Pogba wins the 2013 Golden Boy award". tuttosport.com. 4 December 2013. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
9. "Raheem Sterling named Europe's Golden Boy after excellent year at Liverpool FC". Liverpool Echo. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
10. "Anthony Martial élu Golden Boy 2015". L'Équipe (in French). 19 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
11. "Renato Sanches è il Golden Boy 2016 di Tuttosport" [Renato Sanches is Tuttosport's Golden Boy 2016] (in Italian). Tuttosport. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
12. "Golden Boy, "Le Roi" Mbappé: è il vincitore del 2017" [Mbappé wins Tuttosport's Golden Boy 2017 award] (in Italian). Tuttosport. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
13. "De Ligt wins 2018 Golden Boy". Football Italia. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
14. "Il profilo del Golden Boy João Félix: il predestinato". Tuttosport. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
15. "Golden Boy 2020: Haaland'oro! E Fati trionfa sul web". Tuttosport. 21 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
16. "Golden Boy 2021, è Pedri il nuovo "Ragazzo d'Oro" di Tuttosport". Tuttosport. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
17. "DIRETTA Il Golden Boy 2022 è Gavi!". Tuttosport. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
18. "Jude Bellingham è il Golden Boy Absolute Best 2023". Tuttosport. 17 November 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.