How Messi, Kaka, Ronaldo & other Ballon d'Or winning legends voted in Kopa Trophy

  • Lamine Yamal scooped the 2024 Kopa Trophy at the Ballon d'Or ceremony
  • Youngster won the European Championships with Spain in the summer
  • Revealing how former Ballon d'Or winners voted in the award
Yamal picked up the 2024 Kopa Trophy
Yamal picked up the 2024 Kopa Trophy / FRANCK FIFE/GettyImages
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Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal scooped the 2024 Kopa Trophy during October's Ballon d'Or ceremony, beating the likes of Arda Guler, Kobbie Mainoo and Savinho to be crowned the best men's player under the age of 21.

A stunning 2023/24 La Liga campaign saw the 17-year-old become an indispensable member of the Catalan giants' squad, leaving many to compare the teenage wonderkid to Lionel Messi.

Success on the international stage saw Yamal crowned a European Champion with Spain in July, while the fleet-footed winger also became the youngest player to score in the tournament at just 16 years and 362 days old.

Yamal's Kopa Trophy win was therefore widely expected, though the shortlist of players he was competing against was brimming full of talent.

Now, with the event firmly in the rear-view mirror, it's been revealed how 23 former Ballon d'Or winners - including Messi, Kaka, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Ruud Gullit - voted having been given the responsibility of helping to crown Jude Bellingham's successor.

Yamal earned first-place votes from 22 of the 23 players, with only Brazilian striking legend Ronaldo - who played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid in his career - veering away from the young Spaniard in favour of a first-place vote for fellow countryman Savinho.


Savinho
Savinho earned a big move to Manchester City after a stellar year for Girona / Visionhaus/GettyImages

The former Girona star netted 11 goals in 41 appearances during 2023/24 before making a huge summer move to reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.

A number of players with ties to Real Madrid, including Kaka, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema, voted Arda Guler in second, even though the Turkish superstar is yet to cement himself as a first team regular for Carlo Ancelotti.

Pau Cubarsi received support from Messi and fellow Barcelona alumni Hristo Stoichkov, while Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo finished either second or third in 11 of the 23 players votes.

Alejandro Garnacho, Warren Zaire-Emery and Joao Neves also earned top three votes, alongside Bayern Munich's Mathys Tel and emerging Salzburg striker Karim Konate.


How former Ballon d'or winners voted in the Kopa Trophy

Voter

1st

2nd

Gianni Rivera

Lamine Yamal

Kobbie Mainoo

Arda Guler

Oleg Blokhine

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Savinho

Alan Simonsen

Lamine Yamal

Mathys Tel

Pau Cubarsi

Karl-Heinz Rumnmenigge

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Alejandro Garnacho

Igor Belanov

Lamine Yamal

Kobbie Mainoo

Savinho

Ruud Gullit

Lamine Yamal

Kobbie Mainoo

Pau Cubarsi

Marco van Basten

Lamine Yamal

Alejandro Garnacho

Kobbie Mainoo

Lothar Matthaus

Lamine Yamal

Joao Neves

Savinho

Jean-Pierre Papin

Lamine Yamal

Warren Zaire-Emery

Kobbie Mainoo

Hristo Stoichkov

Lamine Yamal

Pau Cubarsi

Arda Guler

Matthias Sammer

Lamine Yamal

Kobbie Mainoo

Savinho

Ronaldo

Savinho

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Rivaldo

Lamine Yamal

Savinho

Arda Guler

Luis Figo

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Joao Neves

Michael Owen

Lamine Yamal

Kobbie Mainoo

Savinho

Pavel Nedved

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Kobbie Mainoo

Andrei Shevchenko

Lamine Yamal

Savinho

Kobbie Mainoo

Ronaldinho

Lamine Yamal

Savinho

Kobbie Mainoo

Fabio Cannavaro

Lamine Yamal

Karim Konate

Arda Guler

Kaka

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Kobbie Mainoo

Lionel Messi

Lamine Yamal

Pau Cubarsi

Alejandro Garnacho

Luka Modric

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Joao Neves

Karim Benzema

Lamine Yamal

Arda Guler

Alejandro Garnacho


READ MORE ON THE 2024 BALLON D'OR NOMINEES & FAVOURITES

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