Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi (19) has been crowned winner of the 2026 Golden Boy award, handed each year to the best under-21 player in the world.
Created by Massimo Franchi, the award celebrates the game's most promising rising talents and has been handed out since 2003 by the Italian newspaper "Tuttosport". That makes it one of the benchmark prizes for measuring young talent.
Only players under 21 who feature in the European leagues can enter.
The Spain international finished well clear of the other 24 candidates, drawn from the "Benchmark" list that tracks performance level by level, plus five invitation cards held by the organising committee to add any talent who emerges at the last moment.
Thirty journalists from across Europe cast the deciding votes, and Cubarsi swept the lot.
He had fallen short in the Kopa Trophy just weeks earlier, beaten by two points as Lamine Yamal landed it for a third year running. This time the vote left no doubt that the World Cup-winning defender deserved his moment.
That erased the bitterness of leaving the Ballon d'Or ceremony empty-handed. Barcelona, meanwhile, tightened their grip on the award: five La Masia graduates now sit among its winners, namely Lionel Messi, Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal and now Cubarsi.
Cesc Fabregas won it too, though as an Arsenal player.
Cubarsi also becomes only the second defender in history to take the prize, following the Netherlands' Matthijs de Ligt in 2018.
Every other winner was a midfielder or a forward. The list boasts some of the biggest names in world football, among them Messi, Sergio Aguero, Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Joao Felix and Erling Haaland. One name missing from it: Cristiano Ronaldo.
On the roll of honour Cubarsi follows Frenchman Desire Doue, winner in 2025, and Lamine Yamal, who claimed the 2024 edition.
Six Spaniards now feature among the 23 winners. Each player can win it only once, unlike the Kopa Trophy handed out by "France Football" magazine.
Fabregas led the way as the first Spaniard crowned in 2006, during his Arsenal days. Isco followed at Malaga, then came Pedri, Gavi and Lamine Yamal, and finally Cubarsi. Spain's grip on the award is clear.