Lamin Yamal and Vicky Lopez, Golden Boy and Golden Girl 2024
The future of Spanish football is bright. This is evidenced by the most prestigious awards for young football talents, awarded by the Italian newspaper TuttoSport. Two FC Barcelona players, Lamin Yamal and Vicky Lopez were awarded the Golden Boy and Golden Girl awards, respectively.as the best under-21 footballer of the year. For my part, Aitana Bonmati won the Golden Woman For the second year in a row, this award is given to the best player over 21 years of age. The men’s Golden Man award in this category went to the recently retired Toni Kroos.
Yamal was an open secret. Thus, he will succeed Jude Bellingham, who won it in 2023. From Madrid to Barcelona. The 17-year-old has earned the crown, but will not receive it until December 16 in Turin. This is not the first time a Barça player has received this award. The most recent were Gavi and Pedri, in 2022 and 2021. respectively. He also took it to 2005, young Lionel Messi.
Despite his youth, Lamin Yamal is irreplaceable for FC Barcelona. In the 23/24 season, the player from Mataro, thanks to his numbers, was already a regular player in almost all matches: 50 games played, seven goals and nine assists among all competitions. And this season, despite a right ankle injury, the Blaugrana played 16 games, scored six goals and made eight assists.
This will not be the first award that the Spaniard will receive. Already won the Kop Prize, at the Golden Ball gala concert, best player under 21. And he warned: “I hope that I can win the Ballon d’Or as soon as possible, that’s what I’m striving for.”
Because in Yamal there is broke several records at the age of 17 for example, he became the youngest player to score a goal in a classic match (24 October at the Bernabeu).
In the junior categories he has already shown signs of success, but in the senior category he is already a standard. At Euro 2024, Lamin received an award for best young player of the Eurocup. In Germany, he managed, in addition to lifting the trophy, one goal and four assists He played in seven games as a starter. Moreover, he was The youngest footballer to play at the European Championshipsscoring in the same match at 16 years and 362 days against France. Or assisting in the final of a major tournament, particularly his inseparable Nico Williams in the 1-0 draw against England.
Records and broken records for a kid who still has many years ahead of him in football’s elite and who inevitably gets compared to Leo Messi.
Vicky Lopez and Aitana Bonmati, Barça Excellence Award
For its part, Madrid Vicky Lopez, also a Barcelona player, inherited at the age of 18an award that Colombian Linda Caicedo of Real Madrid won last season.
She is the first Spanish footballer to receive this award, which the Italian newspaper has been presenting since 2018, and another element to appreciate the fantastic moment of Spanish women’s football, of which Aitana Bonmati is at the top of the pedestal. A double Ballon d’Or was also won. with “Golden Woman” second year in a rowAward for the best player over 21 years of age in European leagues.
Vicky Lopez as Lamin Yamal. bright star of Spanish football. She made her debut for the Madrid CFF at just 15 years old, becoming the youngest in the history of Liga F, and since she arrived at Barça in 2022, her progress has been unstoppable, which has been fundamental for both the Barça club. and for the national team.
Lopez won the Ballon d’Or at the Under-17 World Cup and has already won the Nations League with the senior team. In addition, Barça already has two Leagues, two Champions Leagues, two Super Cups and a Cup.
For its part, German Toni Kroosformer Real Madrid player, beat Brazilian Vinicus Junior of Real Madrid and Spaniard Rodrigo Hernandez, the Manchester City player who won the Ballon d’Or a few weeks ago, at the height of the controversy in the men’s over-21 category. years due to the absence of Real Madrid at the gala concert.
The 22nd award, founded by Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart in 2003, has the so-called “Golden Boy Index” – an algorithm that takes into account minutes of play, performance, teams, possible matches with their teams and European competitions when preparing the classification.