Golden Boy award 2023: Results, winner as England and Madrid's Jude Bellingham wins Tuttosport Under-21 prize

Ben Miller

Golden Boy award 2023: Results, winner as England and Madrid's Jude Bellingham wins Tuttosport Under-21 prize image

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
Jude Bellingham
Getty

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.

Ben Miller

Ben Miller Photo

Ben Miller has been writing about sport for 25 years, following all levels of football as well as boxing, MMA, athletics and tennis. He’s seen five promotions, three relegations, one World Cup winner and home games in at least three different stadiums as a result of his lifelong devotion to Brighton & Hove Albion. His main aim each week is to cover at least one game or event that does not require a last-minute rewrite.