by Newsroom

Lamine Yamal retains the lead, while the French champion Zaire-Emery climbs to second place: thus begins the second update of the Golden Boy Football Benchmark Index, the list of the top 100 Under 21 players playing for a European team. This marks another step in the journey leading to the election of the 2024 European Golden Boy.

Thanks to the collaboration with Football Benchmark – the data & analytics partner of the award – the GBFB Index allows for constant monitoring of players’ performances, considering objective data such as playing time, transfers, performances in national teams, and at their respective clubs. This second update (https://www.europeangoldenboy.com/golden-boy-football-benchmark-index/) takes into account matches played up to April 28th.

 At the top remains the 2007-born Barcelona forward, who is also the youngest in the GBFB Index, followed by the PSG midfielder and Joao Neves (Benfica). The new market value of this podium is €176.2 million, an increase compared to a month ago. The overall market value of the 100 listed players has also increased by almost €50 million compared to the first update, reaching €1.37 billion.

With three more players than the first update, Ligue 1 is the most represented league (15), followed by the Belgian Pro League (12), the Premier League (11), and La Liga (10): England and Spain, however, dominate the top 10 with 3 players each. Thanks to Vitor Roque’s entry at 47th place, Barcelona ties with Brighton at the top of the club rankings for representation (4 players each): in total, there are 20 new names compared to a month ago, including notably Adam Wharton from Crystal Palace, already at 15th place, and Guillaume Restes from Toulouse, 28th and the second goalkeeper on the list.

The publication of the new GBFB Index update is scheduled for Wednesday, June 5th, the date of the first event leading to the election of the 2024 European Golden Boy: the event will take place in Solomeo, in the heart of Umbria, at the Teatro Cucinelli.