For the second successive season, Chelsea youngsters Jorrel Hato and Estêvão have made the final shortlist for the annual Golden Boy Award, which goes to the best young player (under 21) playing in one of European’s top leagues.
Barcelona have dominated this award in recent seasons, winning three of four (Pedri, Gavi, and Lamine Yamal) before PSG’s Désiré Doué took the honor last year. (Players can only win once; after that they are ineligible.)
Unlike the last few years, when the winners seemed obvious,
this year’s contest seems a bit more wide open. Unfortunately, probably neither Hato nor Estêvão are among the favorites, though if Estêvão continues on his current trajectory, he may yet become the first Chelsea player to ever win it (he’s got a couple more years of eligibility left).
The full list of nominees for 2026:
Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona)
Ayyoub Bouaddi (Manchester City)
Warren Zaïre-Emery (PSG)
Yan Diomande (Real Madrid)
Luka Vušković (Brighton)
Victor Froholdt (Porto)
Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal)
Rayan (Bournemouth)
Jorrel Hato (CHELSEA)
Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich)
Estêvão (CHELSEA)
Endrick (Real Madrid)
Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth)
Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica)
Kōnstantinos Karetsas (BVB)
Saïd El Mala (1.FC Köln)
Jon Martín (Real Sociedad)
Marc Bernal (Barcelona)
Kerim Alajbegović (Juventus)
Finn Jeltsch (Stuttgart)
Charalampos Kōstoulas (Brighton)
Joane Gadou (BVB)
Franco Mastantuono (Fiorentina)
Rodrigo Mora (Roma)
Xavi Espart (Barcelona)
