Golden Boy (award)

The Golden Boy is an award that is given by sports journalists to a young football player playing in Europe perceived to have been the most impressive during a calendar year (two halves to two separate seasons). All nominees must be under the age of 21 and play in a European nation's top tier.

Selection

The prize was established by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport in 2003. Newspapers that now participate in voting include Bild (Germany), Blick (Switzerland), A Bola (Portugal), l'Équipe (France), France Football (France), Marca (Spain), Mundo Deportivo (Spain), Ta Nea (Greece), Sport Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), and The Times (United Kingdom). Each juror is allowed to nominate five players, the juror will allocate 10 points to the player that they perceive as the most impressive, 7 for second, 5 third, 3 fourth, and 1 point for fifth most impressive.

Winners

Rafael van der Vaart, the inaugural winner of the award

Renato Sanches, the recent winner of the award

Year	Winner	Native country	Club	Position	Source(s)
2003	Rafael van der Vaart	Netherlands	Ajax	Midfielder	[1]
2004	Wayne Rooney	England	Manchester United	Forward	[1]
2005	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Barcelona	Forward	[1]
2006	Cesc Fàbregas	Spain	Arsenal	Midfielder	[1]
2007	Sergio Agüero	Argentina	Atlético Madrid	Forward	[1]
2008	Anderson	Brazil	Manchester United	Midfielder	[2]
2009	Alexandre Pato	Brazil	Milan	Forward	[3]
2010	Mario Balotelli	Italy	Manchester City	Forward	[4]
2011	Mario Götze	Germany	Borussia Dortmund	Midfielder	[5]
2012	Isco	Spain	Málaga	Midfielder	[6]
2013	Paul Pogba	France	Juventus	Midfielder	[7]
2014	Raheem Sterling	England	Liverpool	Midfielder	[8]
2015	Anthony Martial	France	Manchester United	Forward	[9]
2016	Renato Sanches	Portugal	Bayern Munich	Midfielder	[10]

Awards won by position

As of 24 October 2016

Position	Wins
Midfielder	8
Forward	6

Awards won by nationality

As of 24 October 2016

Country	Win(s)	Year(s)
England	2	2004, 2014
Argentina	2	2005, 2007
Spain	2	2006, 2012
Brazil	2	2008, 2009
France	2	2013, 2015
Netherlands	1	2003
Italy	1	2010
Germany	1	2011
Portugal	1	2016

Awards won by club

As of 24 October 2016

Club	Win(s)	Year(s)
Manchester United	3	2004, 2008, 2015
Ajax	1	2003
Barcelona	1	2005
Arsenal	1	2006
Atlético Madrid	1	2007
Milan	1	2009
Manchester City	1	2010
Borussia Dortmund	1	2011
Málaga	1	2012
Juventus	1	2013
Liverpool	1	2014
Bayern Munich	1	2016

References

1. "Golden Boy: l'Albo d'Oro". tuttosport.com. 6 December 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
2. "È Anderson il Golden Boy 2008 di Tuttosport". tuttosport.com. 6 December 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
3. "Pato vince il Golden Boy 2009: "Magari emulare Messi..."". tuttosport.com. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
4. "Balotelli, Golden Boy 2010: "Un giorno sarò del Milan"". tuttosport.com. 21 December 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
5. "Borussia Dortmund's Mario Gotze lands 'Golden Boy' award for 2011". Goal.com. Dec 5, 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
6. "Isco wins the 2012 Golden Boy award". insidespanishfootball.com. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
7. "Pogba wins the 2013 Golden Boy award". tuttosport.com. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
8. "Raheem Sterling named Europe's Golden Boy after excellent year at Liverpool FC". Liverpool Echo. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
9. "Anthony Martial élu Golden Boy 2015". L'Équipe (in French). 19 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
10. "Renato Sanches è il Golden Boy 2016 di Tuttosport" [Renato Sanches is Tuttosport's Golden Boy 2016] (in Italian). Tuttosport. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.