Outrageously talented young ballers from Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and others are all battling it out to be crowned the 2024 Golden Boy.
Introduced by Italian outlet Tuttosport in 2003, the award is given to one exciting young male footballing talent annually, as a recognition of both their achievements thus far and the potential they still have to unlock.
Stars from across the European game from United, Real Madrid, Ajax, Juventus and more have all lifted the award in its lifespan thus far. And while not every alumnae goes onto become a world beater as expected, the list of former winners is stacked and – in most cases – the Golden Boy award has merely been the marker for a brilliant career ahead.
Rafael van der Vaart was the inaugural Golden Boy winner back in 2003, being given the award while on the books at Ajax and soon after moving to the Bundesliga with Hamburg, followed by the dream transfer to Real Madrid.
Other formers include the likes of Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, but also names such as Mario Balotelli, Anderson and Alexandre Pato, whose career was heavily disrupted by injuries.
Nominees for the Golden Boy must be under the age of 21 and play in the top flight of a European nation’s football divisions, so those putting in the work in second and third tiers are unfortunately ineligible for consideration.
A winner is crowned via a voting system, with several media outlets from across Europe all nominating five players each. Their top pick gets 10 points, their second seven, their third five, their fourth three and their fifth pick gets one.
The race is now hotting up as we head into the second half of 2024, with the eventual winner being crowned in December this year. With the race hotting up and journalists needing to vote, the nominees for the 2024 award have been established.
That means an exclusive list has been unveiled, detailing the 100 best young male footballers in the world right now.
Jude Bellingham won the 2023 edition of the trophy and in the time since has absolutely blossomed on the grandest stage of them all, finishing his first season as a Real Madrid player with La Liga and the Champions League, weighing in with 23 goals and 13 assists in all competitions.
Depending on how Euro 2024 goes for Bellingham and England, he could well make the jump from Golden Boy to Ballon d’Or winner in the space of a year.
Enough about Jude and the Ballon d’Or race, though. We’re focusing on the next generation right now, specifically, the 100 nominees named in the race for this year’s Golden Boy, looking to climb the ranks like Bellingham has done.
Read on for the full list of 100 male players nominated for the 2024 Golden Boy award and the club they’ve been playing for in 2023-234, ages correct at the time of writing.
Lamine Yamal — FC Barcelona — 16 years old
Joao Neves — Benfica — 19 years old
Alejandro Garnacho — Manchester United — 19 years old
Warren Zaire-Emery — Paris Saint-Germain — 18 years old
Leny Yoro — Lille — 18 years old
Savio — Girona — 20 years old
Kobbie Mainoo — Manchester United — 19 years old
Pau Cubarsi — FC Barcelona — 17 years old
Lamine Yamal — FC Barcelona — 16 years old
Joao Neves — Benfica — 19 years old
Alejandro Garnacho — Manchester United — 19 years old
Warren Zaire-Emery — Paris Saint-Germain — 18 years old
Leny Yoro — Lille — 18 years old
Savio — Girona — 20 years old
Kobbie Mainoo — Manchester United — 19 years old
Pau Cubarsi — FC Barcelona — 17 years old
Aleksandar Pavlovic — Bayern Munich — 20 years old
Rico Lewis — Manchester City — 19 years old
Mathys Tel — Bayern Munich — 19 years old
Jorrel Hato — Ajax — 18 years old
Oscar Gloukh — Red Bull Salzburg — 20 years old
Adam Wharton — Crystal Palace — 20 years old
Christhian Mosquera — Valencia — 19 years old
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens — Borussia Dortmund — 19 years old
Arthur Vermeeren —Atletico Madrid — 20 years old
Ilias Akhomach — Villarreal — 20 years old
Arda Guler — Real Madrid — 19 years old
Gavi —FC Barcelona — 19 years old
Bilal El Khannouss — Genk — 20 years old
Michael Kayode — Fiorentina — 19 years old
Youssoufa Moukoko — Borussia Dortmund — 19 years old
Guillaume Restes — Toulouse — 19 years old
Desire Doue — Stade Rennais — 19 years old
Rokas Pukstas — Hadjuk Split — 19 years old
Andreas Schjelderup — Nordsjaelland — 20 years old
Matte Smets — Sint-Truidense VV — 20 years old
Malick Fofana — Lyon — 19 years old
Kristian Hylnsson — Ajax — 20 years old
Yankuba Minteh — Feyenoord — 19 years old
Kenan Yildiz — Juventus — 19 years old
Habib Diarra — Strasbourg —20 years old
Jeanuel Belocian — Stade Rennais — 19 years old
Hugo Larsson — Eintracht Frankfurt — 19 years old
Lewis Miley — Newcastle United — 18 years old
Mario Stroeykens — Anderlecht — 19 years old
Mathias Delorge-Knieper — Sint-Truidense VV — 19 years old
Wilson Odobert — Burnley — 19 years old
Lucas Bergvall — Djurgarden — 18 years old
Karim Konate — Red Bull Salzburg — 20 years old
Facundo Buonanotte — Brighton — 19 years old
Kacper Urbanski — Bologna — 19 years old
Max Finkgrafe — Koln — 20 years old
Samu Omorodion — Deportivo — 20 years old
Antonio Nusa — Club Brugge — 19 years old
Ibrahim Osman — Nordsjaelland — 19 years old
Brajan Gruda — Mainz — 20 years old
El Hadji Malick Diouf — Slavia Prague — 19 years old
Vitor Roque — FC Barcelona — 19 years old
Tobias Slotsager — Odense BK — 18 years old
Jorne Spileers — Club Brugge — 19 years old
Assane Diao — Real Betis — 18 years old
Mohamed-Ali Cho — OGC Nice — 20 years old
Samson Baidoo — Red Bull Salzburg — 20 years old
Mads Enggard — Randers — 20 years old
Lamine Camara — Metz — 20 years old
Carlos Baleba — Brighton — 20 years old
Semih Kilicsoy — Besiktas — 18 years old
Lewis Hall — Newcastle — 19 years old
Noah Sadiki — Union Saint-Gilloise — 19 years old
Nikolas Sattlberger — Rapid Wien — 20 years old
Bogdan Slyubyk — FC Rukh Lviv — 20 years old
Kassoum Ouattara — Monaco —19 years old
Mateus Fernandes — GD Estoril Praia — 19 years old
Valentin Carboni — Monza — 19 years old
Yasin Ozcan — Kasimpasa — 18 years old
Orri Oskarsson — FC Copenhagen — 19 years old
Moreno Zivkovic — Dinamo Zagreb — 20 years old
Dean Huijsen — Roma — 19 years old
Anan Khalaili — Maccabi Haifa —19 years old
Gustavo Sa — Famalicao — 19 years old
Evan Ferguson — Brighton — 19 years old
Ruben van Bommel — AZ Alkmaar — 19 years old
Ezechiel Banzuzi — OH Leuven — 19 years old
Angelo —Strasbourg — 19 years old
Yevgeniy Pastukh — FC Rukh Lviv — 20 years old
Eliesse Ben Seghir — Monaco — 19 years old
Anton Kade — Basel — 20 years old
Joel Ordonez — Club Brugge — 20 years old
Roony Bardghji — FC Copenhagen — 18 years old
Christian Mawissa Elebi — Toulouse — 19 years old
Adi Yona — Beitar Jerusalem — 20 years old
Roger Fernandes — Braga — 18 years old
Ondrej Kricfalusi — FK Teplice — 20 years old
Tim Drexler — Hoffenheim — 19 years old
Abdukodir Khusanov — RC Lens — 20 years old
Dario Osorio — Midtjylland — 20 years old
Ismael Gharbi — Stade Lausanne Ouchy — 20 years old
Andrey Santos — Strasbourg — 20 years old
Jack Hinshelwood — Brighton — 19 years old
Lucas Noubi — Standard Liege — 19 years old
Carlos Forbs Borges — Ajax — 20 years old
Oliver Braude — Heerenveen — 20 years old
Christopher Bonsu Bah — Genk — 19 years old
Umut Tohumcu — Hoffenheim — 19 years old
Gabriel Slonina — Eupen — 20 years old
Simone Pafundi — FC Lausanne Sport — 18 years old
Lucas Mincarelli — Montpellier — 20 years old
Noam Ben Harush — Hapoel Haifa — 20 years old
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