Golden Boy 2022: Confirmed nominees
Tuttosport released their 100-player shortlist for the 2022 Golden Boy award back in June, with ten Premier League starlets among the talents to be recognised.
The award rewards the best player under 21 in a calendar year and has been won by several legends of the modern game.
Current holder Pedri is up for the award again, while Barcelona teammates Nico and Gavi are also shortlisted. Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala and Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham are also in the group of nominees.
From the Premier League, Harvey Elliott and Adam Diallo are included, as are Fabio Silva, Ki-Jana Hoever, Pape Matar Sarr, Yan Couto, Kacper Kozlowski and Joe Gelhardt.
Tuttosport cut the nominees down from the original 100 until the winner is announced in October.
Golden Boy 2022: Confirmed nominees
- Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund)
- Felix Afena-Gyan (Roma)
- Lucien Agoume (Inter)
- Anouar Ait El Hadj (Anderlecht)
- Alejandro Balde (Barcelona)
- Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
- Stipe Biuk (HNK Hajduk Split)
- Edoardo Bove (Roma)
- Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)
- Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio)
- Mohamed-Ali Cho (Real Sociedad)
- Francisco Conceicao (Porto)
- Yan Couto (Manchester City)
- Amar Dedic (Red Bull Salzburg)
- Karamoko Dembele (Brest)
- Diego Moreira (Benfica)
- Hugo Ekitike (Reims)
- Anthony Elanga (Manchester United)
- Harvey Elliott (Liverpool)
- Sebastiano Esposito (Anderlecht, Inter)
- Fabio Carvalho (Liverpool)
- Fabio Silva (Wolves)
- Ansu Fati (Barcelona)
- Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United)
- Gavi (Barcelona)
- Joe Gelhardt (Leeds)
- Wilfried Gnonto (Zurich)
- Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich)
- Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
- Henrique Araujo (Benfica)
- Aaron Hickey (Brentford)
- Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Adam Hlozek (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Ki-Jana Hoever (Wolves)
- Joelson Fernandes (Sporting CP)
- Isak Bergmann Johannesson (Copenhagen)
- Arnaud Kalimuendo (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Jakub Kaminski (Wolfsburg)
- Ansgar Knauff (Borussia Dortmund)
- Kacper Kozlowski (Brighton)
- Castello Lukeba (Lyon)
- Noni Madueke (PSV Eindhoven)
- Eliot Matazo (Monaco)
- Bjorn Meijer (Club Brugge)
- Fabio Miretti (Juventus)
- Raul Moro (Lazio)
- Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund)
- Yunus Musah (Valencia)
- Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
- Cher Ndour (Benfica)
- Nico (Barcelona)
- Nico Williams (Athletic Club)
- Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Simone Pafundi (Udinese)
- Cole Palmer (Manchester City)
- Paulo Bernardo (Benfica)
- Pedri (Barcelona)
- Yeremi Pino (Villarreal)
- Reinier (Real Madrid)
- Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
- Fabian Rieder (Young Boys)
- Rodrigo Ribeiro (Sporting CP)
- Luka Romero (Lazio)
- Lazar Samardzic (Udinese)
- Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham)
- Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta)
- Benjamin Sesko (Reb Bull Salzburg)
- Matias Soule (Juventus)
- Luka Sucic (Red Bull Salzburg)
- Kamaldeen Sulemana (Rennes)
- Tomas Suslov (Groningen)
- Jan Thielmann (Koln)
- Tiago Tomas (Sporting CP)
- Malik Tillman (Bayern Munich)
- Destiny Udogie (Hellas Verona)
- Maarten Vandevoordt (Genk)
- Elye Wahi (Montpellier)
- Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)
- Illya Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kyiv)
- Nicola Zalewski (Roma)
Who has won the Golden Boy award?
Starting in 2003, Tuttosport have displayed a decent eye for talent with their Golden Boy picks. Rafa van der Vaart was their inaugural pick and all was rosy in the following years as they pluged for Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Aguero.
They hit a bit of a rut when they dished out awards to Anderson, Alexandre Pato and Mario Balotelli - all of whom have endured disappointing careers - before Isco brought a little more prestige back to the prize,
- 2003 - Rafael van der Vaart (Ajax)
- 2004 - Wayne Rooney (Everton/Manchester United)
- 2005 - Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2006 - Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
- 2007 - Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid)
- 2008 - Anderson (Manchester United)
- 2009 - Alexandre Pato (AC Milan)
- 2010 - Mario Balotelli (Inter/Manchester City)
- 2011 - Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund)
- 2012 - Isco (Malaga)
- 2013 - Paul Pogba (Juventus)
- 2014 - Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
- 2015 - Anthony Martial (Monaco/Manchester United)
- 2016 - Renato Sanches (Benfica/Bayern Munich)
- 2017 - Kylian Mbappe (Monaco/Paris Saint-Germain)
- 2018 - Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax)
- 2019 - Joao Felix (Benfica/Atletico Madrid)
- 2020 - Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
- 2021 - Pedri (Barcelona)
Which club has won the Golden Boy award the most?
Thanks to wins from Wayne Rooney, Anderson and Anthony Martial, Manchester United currently boast the most winners of the Golden Boy award with three.
Straggling behind in second are the likes of Juventus, Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Monaco and Benfica, all of whom have
How is the Golden Boy award decided?
The winner of the Golden Boy award is determined by votes from journalists representing different newspaper and media outlets. Each voter gives ten points to the player they deem the most impressive, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.
The initial 100-player shortlist has been released and it will be cut to 80, 60 and 40 before a final slate of 20 players is announced.
Votes will be collated and the results revealed at an award ceremony that usually takes place in November.