Golden Boy: Jude Bellingham was named Best Young Man

As has been known since November 17, Jude Bellingham, the attacking midfielder of Real Madrid, received the Golden Boy award for the best under-21 footballer – which he also received at the Tuttosport ceremony held in Turin on Monday evening for the young footballer.

The award for the best footballer aged 21 (or under) has been awarded every year since 2003, for the 21st year, by Italian sports daily Tuttosport. The award is decided by fifty football experts, including Bild (Germany), Blake (Switzerland), Pula (Portugal), L'Equipe (France), France Football (France), Marca (Spain), Mundo Deportivo (Spain), Ta Nea ( Greece), Sports Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), or Editor-in-Chief of The Times (UK). György Szolosi, editor-in-chief of Nemzeti Sport magazine and president of the Association of Hungarian Sports Journalists, voted for Hungary, which immediately followed the events at the invitation of the organisers. His ranking was as follows: 1. Jude Bellingham, 2. Jamal Musiala, 3. Xavi Simons, 4. Rasmus Hoglund, 5. Kirkese Milos. In each ballot, the first-placed player received ten points, second-placed player received seven, third-placed player received five, and fourth- and fifth-placed players received three and one, respectively. Twenty of the nominees were selected on the basis of a ranking list compiled based on football benchmarking data, while a further five were selected by Tuttosport editors.

Before the celebration, Jude Bellingham won the Golden Boy (Etana Bonmatti – Barcelona), Golden Girl (Linda Caicedo – Real Madrid), Best Player Agent (Ali Barat), Best European Club President (Tony Bloom – Brighton). Honored at Monday's ceremony, the best coach (Edu Gaspar – Arsenal), the best coach (Roberto De Zerbi – Brighton), the best young Italian (Giorgio Scalvini – Atalanta) and many other categories were honoured. The Fair Play Award was won by Juventus defender Federico Gatti, the Golden Boy Man of the Year Award went to Erling Haaland, the Norwegian striker who won the 2023 Champions League with Manchester City, and the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Cesc Fabregas.

So there were no surprises in the voting for the award bearing her name this year: towering contender Jude Bellingham was named Golden Boy. The Real Madrid English attacking midfielder was already among the favorites in 2021 and 2022 as a Dortmund player, even coming in second place both times, first behind Pedri and then Barcelona midfielder Gavi. Therefore, the award will remain in Spain, after the two Catalan talents, now for a player from Real Madrid who spent the first half of the year in Dortmund. Bellingham's summer squad change could not have been better. While he has mostly played as a midfielder at Dortmund, Carlo Ancelotti plays him slightly further forward – and he is scoring goals from the start. He scored directly in his first league match at Bilbao Stadium, and in the 13 matches he has played in the Spanish League so far, he has 11 goals. He scored two goals against Almeria and Osasuna, and with his two goals, the Royal team turned the tables and won the title. Super away march against Barcelona. He also scored four goals in four Champions League matches.

“I'm very grateful for this recognition, but to be honest, I don't have difficulty with it because I play for the best team in the world. I love Madrid, it's a beautiful city with great people, great food and my team-mates help me with everything. The conditions are amazing, I just have to focus on the game” .Jude Bellingham said humbly on stage.

Fans can also choose their favorite from Tuttosport's list on the magazine's website. More than three million people voted in the Journalist's Vote, and Billingham won there too, collecting two gold ball-shaped trophies and raising them aloft at the same time at the Turin ceremony.