The 17-year-old picked up the award during this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Barcelona and Spain winger Lamine Yamal was awarded the 2024 Kopa Trophy during Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, which is given to the world’s best young player.
At the age of 17, Yamal has enjoyed success at both club and international level.
With his club Barcelona, Yamal already has a La Liga winner’s medal after the team lifted the trophy at the end of the 2022-23 season.
Yamal then had a breakthrough tournament with Spain at Euro 2024 earlier this year, playing a vital part in his team winning the trophy after beating England 2-1 in July’s Berlin final.
Following the conclusion of the tournament, Yamal was named EURO 2024’s Young Player of the Tournament along with Goal of the Tournament following his screamer in the 2-1 semi-final win over France. Yamal was 16 years and 362 days old at the time, which made him the youngest ever scorer in the history of the European Championship.
Yamal was given the trophy by 1987 Ballon d’Or winner Ruud Gullit, who said the following about Yamal after technical issues on stage meant Yamal was unable to speak after receiving this accolade.
“I think he’s very mature in the way he plays. I think he has a huge future ahead of him and will win many trophies,” Gullit said.
“I saw him in the Euros final against England. History was in his hands. We need young players, we need players that have the talent and show it. This is the thing we miss.
“We live in an era of players taking one or two touches, but we need to see players dribbling. Please!”
Yamal’s fairytale 2024 continued this past weekend with the winger scoring the third goal in Barcelona’s 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid at El Clasico.
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