England's Jude Bellingham has won the Golden Boy title in the 21st year of the annual award for the best Under-21 player in Europe.
The 20-year-old has been in outstanding form for club side Real Madrid and the Three Lions, and even received the backing of legions of fans of pop star Taylor Swift in the public vote.
The winner was decided by journalists' votes, with each judge giving 10 points to their first pick, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.
Italian newspaper Tuttosport established the award, which is now presented jointly between several European publications including Bild, L'Equipe, France Football, Marca, Mundo Deportivo, The Times, De Telegraaf and A Bola.
Bellingham's fellow nominees to have made the shortlist included record-breaking Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal and new Manchester United signing Rasmus Hojlund, who has followed up his prolific form for Denmark by becoming the early joint-top scorer in the UEFA Champions League.
The Sporting News has you covered for the Golden Boy award results, as well as details of how to follow the announcement.
Golden Boy award 2023: Results, winner
Bellingham was the unsurprising winner of the award, continuing a spectacular start to the season for the 20-year-old.
The former Borussia Dortmund prospect has already won the La Liga Player of the Month award twice, scoring 13 times in his first 14 appearances of the campaign for Madrid.
He was also talismanic for England in their qualification for UEFA EURO 2024, including winning a penalty and setting up Marcus Rashford's goal in their decisive 3-1 win over Italy in October to seal their place at the finals.
What time will the Golden Boy winner be announced?
The press conference to announce the winner takes place at the Sala Trasparenza del Palazzo della Regione Piemonte in Turin and starts at 3 p.m. local time.
Here's how that time translates across some of the major territories:
| Date | Start time | |
| USA | Fri, Nov. 17 | 9:00 a.m. ET |
| Canada | Fri, Nov. 17 | 9:00 a.m. ET |
| UK | Fri, Nov. 17 | 2:00 p.m. GMT |
| Australia | Sat, Nov. 18 | 1:00 a.m. AEDT |
| India | Fri, Nov. 17 | 6:30 p.m. IST |
| Hong Kong | Fri, Nov. 17 | 10:00 p.m. HKT |
| Malaysia | Fri, Nov. 17 | 10:00 p.m. MYT |
| Singapore | Fri, Nov. 17 | 10:00 p.m. SGT |
| New Zealand | Sat, Nov. 18 | 3:00 a.m. NZDT |
How to watch the Golden Boy 2023 award announcement
The announcement will be made live on Tuttosport's website.
Golden Boy 2023: List of nominees
An initial longlist of 100 players was drawn up, all of whom met the requirement of playing for a top-flight European club at Under-21 age.
Here are the stars to have made the shortlist.
| Player | Club |
| Jude Bellingham | Real Madrid |
| Jamal Musiala | Bayern Munich |
| Xavi Simons | RB Leipzig |
| Antonio Silva | Benfica |
| Alejandro Balde | Barcelona |
| Florian Wirtz | Bayer Leverkusen |
| Benjamin Sesko | Salzburg |
| Giorgio Scalvini | Atalanta |
| Rasmus Hojlund | Manchester United |
| Levi Colwill | Chelsea |
| Johan Bakayoko | PSV |
| Milos Kerkez | AZ |
| Arthur Vermeeren | Royal Antwerp |
| Evan Ferguson | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| Lucas Gourna-Douath | Salzburg |
| Warren Zaire-Emery | Paris Saint-Germain |
| Ousmane Diomande | Sporting CP |
| Arnau Martinez | Girona |
| Mathys Tel | Bayern Munich |
| Andy Diouf | Lens |
| Arda Guler | Real Madrid |
| Bilal El Khannouss | Genk |
| Martin Baturina | Dinamo Zagreb |
| Joao Neves | Benfica |
| Lamine Yamal | Barcelona |
Golden Boy winners: Who has won the award in the past?
Barcelona midfielder Gavi, who was only longlisted this time, won the award in 2022, following in the footsteps of an illustrious lineup including Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
Bellingham's win meant midfielders had won the award as many times as forwards, with players in each position winning 10 times.
Matthijs de Ligt is the only defender to have prevailed, in 2018, and no goalkeeper has ever done so.
| Year | Player | Club |
| 2003 | Rafael van der Vaart | Ajax |
| 2004 | Wayne Rooney | Everton/Man United |
| 2005 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona |
| 2006 | Cesc Fabregas | Arsenal |
| 2007 | Sergio Aguero | Atletico Madrid |
| 2008 | Anderson | Man United |
| 2009 | Alexandre Pato | AC Milan |
| 2010 | Mario Balotelli | Inter Milan/Man City |
| 2011 | Mario Gotze | Borussia Dortmund |
| 2012 | Isco | Malaga |
| 2013 | Paul Pogba | Juventus |
| 2014 | Raheem Sterling | Liverpool |
| 2015 | Anthony Martial | Monaco/Man United |
| 2016 | Renato Sanches | Benfica/Bayern |
| 2017 | Kylian Mbappe | Monaco/PSG |
| 2018 | Matthijs de Ligt | Ajax |
| 2019 | Joao Felix | Benfica/Atletico Madrid |
| 2020 | Erling Haaland | Borussia Dortmund |
| 2021 | Pedri | Barcelona |
| 2022 | Gavi | Barcelona |
| 2023 | Jude Bellingham | Real Madrid |
Golden Boy award rules, criteria
In order to qualify for the Golden Boy award, players must play for a team in a top division in one of the top 25 leagues in Europe based on UEFA coefficient rankings as of May 2023 (such as the English Premier League).
To win in 2023, they must also have been born on January 1, 2003, or later (in other words, they need to be under 21 years of age this year).
The award is then voted for by journalists across Europe. These votes are worth a certain number of points, rather like the Ballon d'Or: 10 points to a journalist's first choice, seven for their second, five for their third, three for their fourth, and one for their fifth. Those points are then tallied to determine the final rankings, and the winner.
To help the journalists make their selection, 2023 saw the implementation of the 'Golden Boy Index'. This is a data- and analytics-driven tool, powered by Football Benchmark, that those casting their votes can use to assess who has been the best Under-21 player this year. This system takes into account sporting performance, amount of playing time, and the strength of the team for which the player plays. Performances for national sides and in UEFA competitions are used for a 'bonus metric'. The ranking is based on games played between the start of the 2022 World Cup (which began on November 22 last year) and October 2, 2023.
There is a separate 'Golden Boy Web' award in 2023, which is voted for by members of the public. Bellingham was comfortably top of that poll.
