Barcelona:Defender Pau Cubarsi is leading the 25-player shortlist for the 2026 European Golden Boy award, as announced Monday.

According to Anadolu Agency, Cubarsi is at the forefront of the latest European Golden Boy Top 100 ranking, surpassing his Barcelona teammate Lamine Yamal, Manchester City's Ayyoub Bouaddi, Paris Saint-Germain's Warren Zaire-Emery, and Real Madrid's Yan Diomande. Despite Yamal's second-place ranking, he is not among the finalists due to the rule prohibiting a player from winning the award more than once, having won in 2024.

The shortlist includes the top 20 eligible players from the October ranking and five wild-card selections: Brighton's Charalampos Kostoulas, Borussia Dortmund's Joane Gadou, Fiorentina's Franco Mastantuono, Roma's Rodrigo Mora, and Barcelona's Xavi Espart. Among other notable names are Chelsea's Jorrel Hato and Estevao, Real Madrid's Endrick, Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl, who is the youngest player on the list, born in February 2008.

The Premier League leads with eight finalists, followed by La Liga with six, the Bundesliga with five, and Serie A with three. Barcelona has the most nominees with three players: Cubarsi, Marc Bernal, and wild-card Xavi Espart. The shortlist features players from 14 countries, with Spain having the highest representation at four, followed by Germany, Brazil, and France with three each.

An international jury of 50 journalists from Europe will decide the winner, to be announced in November. The Golden Boy award, established by the Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport in 2003, honors the best Under-21 footballer playing for a European club. Paris Saint-Germain's Desire Doue was the award recipient in 2025.