Who will be Yamal's successor? PSG and Real Madrid offspring fight for Golden Boy award

Ousmane Dembele won this year's Ballon d'Or, and we're about to find out who the best young player based in Europe is.

Italian outlet Tuttosport has officially announced the 25-player 2025 Golden Boy award shortlist. Since it can't be won by the same player more than once, last year's winner, Lamine Yamal, won't be in contention despite still being under the age limit.

Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid lead the way with the most nominees, three each: Desire Doue, Warren Zaire-Emery, and Senny Mayulu of PSG and Arda Guler, Franco Mastantuono, and Deah Huijsen of Real Madrid.

Twenty players on the shortlist have been included based on Tuttosport and Football Benchmark's algorithm, while another five 'wildcards' are selected. Those wildcard picks this year are Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Giovanni Leoni (Liverpool), Jobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Rodrigo Mora (Porto) and Aleksandar Stankovic (Club Brugge).

Previous Golden Boy award winners include Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham.

The exact date of the award announcement is unknown, but the winner should be announced in December.

2025 Golden Boy shortlist:

Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona)

Desire Doue (PSG)

Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid)

Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)

Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal)

Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG)

Arda Guler (Real Madrid)

Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid)

Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)

Jorrel Hato (Chelsea)

Geovany Quenda (Sporting CP)

Estevao (Chelsea)

Leny Yoro (Manchester United)

Senny Mayulu (PSG)

Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City)

Eliesse Ben Seghir (Bayer Leverkusen)

Victor Froholdt (Porto)

Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham)

Archie Gray (Tottenham)

Mamadou Sarr (Strasbourg)

Wildcard inclusions:

Jobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)

Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter)

Rodrigo Mora (Porto)

Giovanni Leoni (Liverpool)

Aleksandar Stankovic (Club Brugge)