Has a Golden Boy winner ever won the Ballon d'Or?
- Lamine Yamal is expected to be named 2024 Golden Boy
- Jude Bellingham is the current holder of award after outstanding 2023
- Yamal has also been nominated for the Ballon d'Or
By Euan Burns
If 2023 was all about Jude Bellingham, then 2024 has been the year of Lamine Yamal. The teenage Spaniard is the runaway favourite to claim Tuttosport's Golden Boy award.
The Italian newspaper outlet have been naming their standout Under-21 performer since 2003, with Jude Bellingham becoming the latest the claim the award following his sensational start to life at Real Madrid last year.
Yamal, meanwhile, has swiftly blossomed into one of the sport's finest talents despite turning merely 17 just before he inspired Spain to Euro 2024 glory in July. The dazzling winger emerged as a shining light amid a tumultuous 2023/24 campaign for Barcelona, and has quickly established himself as a protagonist in Hansi Flick's new regime.
The kid's a generational superstar, and there's no doubt he'll be mopping up individual awards for years to come. His exploits have deservedly garnered him a Ballon d'Or nomination, although victory there has surely come too soon for Yamal.
Who has won the Golden Boy and Ballon d'Or awards?
The Golden Boy award started back in 2003 and a winner has been crowned every single year since then. Bellingham was the 21st kid to claim the award last year, but incredibly, only one of his predecessors has ever gone on to win the Ballon d'Or.
When you look at the names on the list of Golden Boy winners, you would be right to assume that will change over the next few years. Players like Pedri, Gavi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe are recent winners, and now that Bellingham and Yamal are in the mix, any of them could feasibly hoist the Ballon d'Or aloft across their careers.
No prizes for guessing who managed to win both awards. It's Lionel Messi, obviously. He was crowned the Golden Boy back in 2005 when he burst onto the scene with Barcelona and shocked the world with his dribbling and close control. Four years later, he would win his first of eight Ballon d'Or awards.
Every Golden Boy award winner
- 2003: Rafael van der Vaart
- 2004: Wayne Rooney
- 2005: Lionel Messi
- 2006: Cesc Fabregas
- 2007: Sergio Aguero
- 2008: Anderson
- 2009: Alexandre Pato
- 2010: Mario Balotelli
- 2011: Mario Gotze
- 2012: Isco
- 2013: Paul Pogba
- 2014: Raheem Sterling
- 2015: Anthony Martial
- 2016: Renato Sanches
- 2017: Kylian Mbappe
- 2018: Matthijs de Ligt
- 2019: Joao Felix
- 2020: Erling Haaland
- 2021: Pedri
- 2022: Gavi
- 2023: Jude Bellingham
Did Cristiano Ronaldo ever win the Golden Boy award?
Given the Ballon d'Or became a competition almost entirely contested by Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, it is fair to wonder why he has not matched Messi's achievement of winning both. After all, the pair have won 13 of the 15 editions of the Ballon d'Or since 2008.
There were three editions where Ronaldo was eligible to be the winner of the Golden Boy award, and he was narrowly beaten each time. Rafael van der Vaart who won the inaugural edition in 2003 before Ronaldo's Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney was honoured the following year. Before the defining footballing rivalry had really ignited, Messi bested Ronaldo in 2005. After that, it was the Ballon d'Or or nothing for the Portuguese winger.
It is no secret that Ronaldo was a talent which Man Utd had to mould in his early years at the club, so it is perhaps not a huge shock that he never won the award. He became a record-breaking individual force slightly later in his career than Messi did.
As mentioned above, there are a handful of recent Golden Boy winners that you would absolutely back to win the Ballon d'Or soon. It is widely believed that 2023 was Messi's last, and Ronaldo won't win another. As for other recent winners, you can rule Karim Benzema and Luka Modric out too. 2024 should be a new Ballon d'Or winner, and it may well be another from the Golden Boy winners list.
READ MORE ON THE 2024 BALLON D'OR
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