by Newsroom
Only Jude Bellingham, for the moment, has succeeded. Only the English phenomenon, in the over twenty-year history of the European Golden Boy, has managed to win the unanimous approval of the prestigious international jury of journalists from all over Europe – who award the Absolute Best – and the fans and enthusiasts worldwide, who are called to choose their Golden Boy Web. The image of him, holding the double trophy, leaving the OGR in Turin where he was our guest and multiple award-winner last December 4th, is etched in memory and marked in the annals of the award, which annually celebrates the best Under-21 talent from a European club. A trophy that he overwhelmingly won in 2023, thus inscribing his name in the golden book inaugurated in 2003.
And this year? The Golden Boy Football Benchmark Index is constantly being updated and since its first publication, it has seen the very young talent (born in 2007) of Barcelona, Lamine Yamal, at the top, now a star with Spain in the European Championships. Behind him are names such as Joao Neves, Alejandro Garnacho, Zaira-Emery, Leny Yoro, Savio, Mainoo, Cubarsi, and Pavlovic, alternating and keeping the attention alive with each new release and trying to overturn the ranking based on a precise algorithm that takes into account objective criteria such as performances, playing time, league membership, and performances in national and UEFA competitions.
At the same time, today also marks the beginning of the race for the best Under-21 talent from a European club according to fans and enthusiasts, which will enrich the golden dawn already embellished with the names of Justin Kluivert (2018), Mattéo Guendouzi (2019), Ansu Fati (2020), Karim Adeyemi (2021), Nicola Zalewski (2022), and, of course, Jude Bellingham (2023).
How does it work? Participating is very simple: on the website tuttosport.com, there is a survey where the names of the 100 candidates, present after the latest update of the GBFB Index dated June 5th, appear. With one click, you can cast a vote for your favorite player in a procedure that will be inaugurated today at 10 AM. When the updated Index is published monthly, the survey will reset, and voting will restart with the updated 100 names: the winner will be determined by the total of all votes collected in each of the rounds until November.
Last year, the awarding of the Golden Boy Web attracted the attention of fans and enthusiasts from literally all over the world, allowing us to reach a new record: over 2 million and 200,000 votes were received, creating the “parallel” ranking to that of the international jury and also awarding this trophy to Bellingham. And this year? Will someone be able to repeat the (double) success of the Real Madrid midfielder? Or, as has happened since 2018, will the two awards have different recipients?
All that’s left is to start voting for your chosen Under-21 player among the 100 currently in our GBFB Index. Today also marks the beginning of the race for the Golden Boy Web 2024!
