Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsí stands at the front of the 25-man shortlist for the 2026 Golden Boy award, placing the 19-year-old Spain defender among the leading candidates for one of European football’s principal individual honours for under-21 players.
The prize, awarded by Tuttosport to the best young player competing in Europe, arrives as the international game moves towards its end-of-year awards period. Cubarsí’s place at the head of the contenders follows a standout 2026 in which he won the Best Young Player award at the latest World Cup and also earned a nomination for France Football’s Kopa Trophy.
His candidacy could bring the Golden Boy back to Spain after Désiré Doué won the previous edition. Doué’s success ended a four-year sequence of winners playing in La Liga: Pedri in 2021, Gavi in 2022, Jude Bellingham in 2023 and Lamine Yamal in 2024. The date of the 2026 ceremony has not yet been confirmed.
Spain and Barcelona well represented
Cubarsí is one of four Spanish players among the finalists. Real Sociedad centre-back Jon Martín Vicente joins Barcelona pair Marc Bernal and Xavi Espart on the list.
Neither Martín nor the two Barcelona midfielders was selected by Spain coach Luis de la Fuente for the World Cup, while Espart has yet to make his senior international debut. Their inclusion nevertheless underlines the depth of Spain’s emerging generation, from San Sebastián to the Catalan capital.
The wider field stretches across the continent’s leading clubs, with Manchester City’s Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi, Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaïre-Emery, Real Madrid forward Endrick and Fiorentina’s Argentine playmaker Franco Mastantuono among the notable names. Yan Diomandé, listed with Leipzig and Real Madrid, is another prominent contender after gaining senior Ivory Coast experience.
All but Mastantuono among Cubarsí, Bouaddi, Diomandé and Endrick have already featured for their senior national sides, while each has also collected minutes in major club competitions including the Champions League.
Golden Boy 2026 finalists
- Pau Cubarsí — Barcelona, Spain
- Ayyoub Bouaddi — Manchester City, Morocco
- Warren Zaïre-Emery — Paris Saint-Germain, France
- Yan Diomandé — Leipzig/Real Madrid, Ivory Coast
- Luka Vuskovic — Brighton, Croatia
- Victor Froholdt — Porto, Denmark
- Myles Lewis-Skelly — Arsenal, England
- Rayan — Bournemouth/Vasco da Gama, Brazil
- Jorrel Hato — Chelsea, Netherlands
- Lennart Karl — Bayern Munich/Monaco, Germany
- Estevao — Chelsea, Brazil
- Endrick — Real Madrid, Brazil
- Eli Junior Kroupi — Bournemouth, France
- Franco Mastantuono — Fiorentina, Argentina
- Gianluca Prestiani — Benfica, Argentina
- Konstantinos Karetsas — Borussia Dortmund, Greece/Belgium
- Saïd El Mala — Cologne, Germany
- Jon Martín Vicente — Real Sociedad, Spain
- Marc Bernal — Barcelona, Spain
- Kerim Alajbegovix — Juventus, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Finn Jeltsch — Stuttgart, Germany
- Charalampos Kostoulas — Brighton, Greece
- Joane Gadou — Borussia Dortmund, France
- Rodrigo Mora — Roma, Portugal
- Xavi Espart — Barcelona, Spain
