by Newsroom
The list of finalists for the European Golden Boy – Absolute Best 2024 award was revealed this evening at Casina Poste in Rome, located within the Tiber River Park: a space dedicated to sports and leisure, recently undergoing major redevelopment, in line with Poste Italiane’s commitment to the values of integration, teamwork, and fairness in competition.
The list includes the top 20 players from the October update of the Golden Boy Football Benchmark Index, a tool developed in collaboration with Football Benchmark – the data and analytics partner of the award – that constantly monitors the performances of European club players under 21. It considers objective data, including playing time, transfers, and performances for both their national teams and clubs.
In addition to the top 20 from the ranking, 5 additional players from positions 21 to 100 in the GBFB Index have been selected. These 5 players progress to the final stage of the European Golden Boy – Absolute Best award, thanks to the 5 Poste Italiane Wild Card entries.
From this moment on, the international jury of the European Golden Boy – composed of 50 journalists from across Europe – will choose the winner of the Absolute Best award from the 25 finalists. The winner will be announced during a press conference scheduled for November, along with the names of all the other award recipients.
The final ceremony is set to take place on Monday, December 16, in Turin.
During the evening, the 10 finalists for the European Golden Girl – Absolute Best award, which honors the best Under-21 female footballer from a European club, were also announced.
The 25 finalists represent 13 countries, with France leading with 5 players, followed by Spain and England (4), and Turkey and Brazil (2). With 7 candidates, the Premier League is the most represented league, ahead of La Liga (5) and Ligue 1 (4). Two clubs have three players among the finalists: Paris Saint-Germain (with 2 in the top three) and Manchester United. The total market value of the 25 finalists exceeds one billion euros, amounting to 1.162,4 billion.
The announcement of the finalists was enhanced by the presence of distinguished guests welcomed on stage by Tuttosport’s editor Guido Vaciago and Sky Sport journalist Federica Lodi. Among them were the coach of the Italian women’s national team Andrea Soncin, former player and Porto coach Sérgio Conceição, Monaco’s general manager Thiago Scuro, and Massimo Mauro, who, together with the award’s creator Massimo Franchi, presented in detail the 25 finalists competing for Tuttosport’s award, won in 2023 by Jude Bellingham.
Massimo Mauro also announced the new charity partnership between the Vialli and Mauro Foundation, of which he is President, and the European Golden Boy. The details of this partnership will be revealed at the November press conference.
• The latest update of the GBFB Index, which considers matches played up to October 6, is available at the following link.