Lamine Yamal ended his exceptional year with the award for the best European Under-21 player. Barcelona was well represented at the awards ceremony, as Vicky Lopez won the Golden Girl trophy and Txiki Begiristain took home the honors for Best Director.
All three were not present at the ceremony as Barcelona found it logistically difficult. Instead, all three spoke from a screen at an awards evening held at the National Motor Museum in Turin.
Departure Reliefreported that Barcelona players did not show up at the stadium due to “various logistical disagreements with the Italian sports newspaper, the organizer of the event, which upset the Catalan club.”
Yamal, who played a big role in Spain for Euro 2024 victory, it works Judy Bellingham who won the men’s award last year.
How voting for the Golden Boy works
Representatives of 50 media outlets from across Europe can take part in the voting, and each first choice gives the player 10 points, seven for second place, five for third place, three for fourth place and one for fifth place.
The 17-year-old Barcelona forward scored 488 out of 500 possible points at the end, which is a record in the men’s category.
Second was Kobbie Mainoo with 114 points, who recognized his impact on Man United.
His teammates Alejandro Garnacho (9th) and Lena Yoro (17th) also made the final rankings, while their neighbors Manchester City were represented by Savinho (7th) and Rico Lewis (13th) and their former academy player Jamie Gittens was also included on the list with 19th place.
Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Nottingham Forest, among others, received the Career Award, and Jorge Mendes was recognized as the best agent. Toni Kroos won the Golden Player Man, an award for the best player over 21 years of age.
Yamal, who became the fourth Barcelona player to win the Golden Boy, after Lionel Messi (2005), Pedri (2021) and Gavi (2022). In October that year, Yamal also won the Kopa Trophy, the award for the best young player of the Ballon d’Or.
