The Golden Boy is an award that is given by sports journalists to a young

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

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. The 2022 edition was won by

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Gavi GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

. Apart from the main award, an additional one, Golden Boy Web, is decided by online users.

Selection

The prize was established by Italian sports newspaper '' Tuttosport'' in 2003. Newspapers that now participate in voting include ''

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

'' (Germany), '' Blick'' (Switzerland), '' A Bola'' (Portugal), ''

l'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby football, rugby, motorsport, and cycle sport, ...

'' (France), ''

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'' (France), ''

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'' (Spain), ''

Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1 ...

'' (Spain), '' Ta Nea'' (Greece), ''

Sport Express ''Sport-Express'' (russian: Спорт-Экспресс) is a Russian daily sports newspaper founded by Vladimir Kuchmiy. Printed in 31 cities of Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the United States, it is the biggest-selling sports ...

'' (Russia), ''

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; en, The Telegraph) is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, '' de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief s ...

'' (Netherlands), and ''

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'' (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.

Winners

Awards won by position

Awards won by nationality

Awards won by club

Year in bold have shared the win with other clubs.

Notes

References

{{Golden Boy award winners European football trophies and awards Awards established in 2003 Under-21 association football Association football young player of the year awards Rookie player awards