About the Golden Boy award
The Golden Boy award is basically a Ballon d'Or given to best football player under the age of 21 during a calendar year. In its early years there was not much prestige in this award but for every year that goes by it is growing in popularity and importance in the football world.
The history of the Golden Boy award
The initiator of this award is the Italian newspaper Tuttosport and they first handed out the award in 2003. The very first player to become the "Golden Boy" was the Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, playing for Ajax at the time.
Even though it is technically possible to win the award more than one time it has still not happened. Closest to win it twice are Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi who won the award ones and been runner-up two times.
Who decides who wins the Golden Boy award?
From the beginning Tuttosport decided the winner by themselves but nowadays it is decided by votes from 11 different European newspapers. These are the 11 newspapers that have a saying in who will win the award:
- Tuttosport, Italy
- A Bola, Portugal
- Bild, Germany
- l'Équipe, France
- France Football, France
- Marca, Spain
- Mundo Deportivo, Spain
- Sport Express, Russia
