Yamal confirms his leadership, Joao Neves closes in, Endrick breaks through. Here is the sixth update of the GBFB Index, in October the 25 finalists

by Newsroom

Lamine Yamal remains in first place in the Golden Boy Football Benchmark Index even after the sixth update, the last one before the official announcement of the finalists for this edition of the European Golden Boy. The podium remains the same: Joao Neves is second, closing the gap with the 17-year-old Blaugrana player thanks to his transfer to PSG, and third is Manchester United’s Argentine player Alejandro Garnacho.

The start of the new season and the simultaneous closing of the transfer window have shaken up the GBFB Index, with 15 new entries: among these, Tottenham striker Odobert stands out, jumping directly to 37th place, Real Madrid striker Endrick (41st), Leicester striker Fatawu (43rd), and Monaco midfielder Camara (46th). Monaco stands out not only because it is the most represented club from France (4 players), but also because it has the player who has gained the most positions overall: Ben Seghir, who jumped from 76th to 61st place, followed by Brighton striker Minteh, who broke into the top 20 with a 13-position leap, the same achieved by Midtjylland striker Osorio, who moved from 80th to 67th place.

If France is the most represented nation (11 players in the GBFB Index), it is the Premier League that confirms itself as the league with the most candidates: 22 in total, six of whom wear the Brighton jersey, making it the most represented club in England, followed by Manchester United, which has three players, all in the top 10. Next is Ligue 1 (16 players, +4 compared to the last update) and, tied with ten players each, La Liga and the Bundesliga.

Thanks to the collaboration between Tuttosport and Football Benchmark – the data & analytics partner of the award – the GBFB Index allows continuous monitoring of players’ performances by considering objective data such as minutes played, transfers, and performances for their national teams and clubs. This update takes into account games played up until September 2.

With the next update, the 25 finalists will be revealed, from which the international jury of journalists will elect the Absolute Best: the top 20 in the GBFB Index and 5 wild cards chosen from the 80 excluded players. The announcement of the finalists will take place during an event scheduled in Rome in October.

GOLDEN BOY WEB

With this update, the third round of the Golden Boy Web begins, the prize awarded by fans worldwide through a poll available on tuttosport.com. The second month of voting saw a dominance by Turkey, with Besiktas forward Kilicsoy securing almost 68% of the votes, followed by Güler and Yildiz.

But everything is still open, as the poll resets with each GBFB Index update, and the final winner will be determined by the sum of all votes collected in each round. In the award’s hall of fame, the following stand out, in chronological order: Justin Kluivert (2018), Mattéo Guendouzi (2019), Ansu Fati (2020), Karim Adeyemi (2021), Nicola Zalewski (2022), and Jude Bellingham (2023), the only player so far to achieve the remarkable feat of winning both the European Golden Boy Absolute Best and this award simultaneously.