Men's Young Talent of the Year 2026: how the vote worked ?


The men's winner is chosen by the former Ballon d'Or winners, among them every laureate from the 2025-2026 season.

Jurors weigh three criteria, in order of importance:

-Individual performances, decisive and impressive impact

-Collective performances and honors

-Class and fair play

The award recognizes the best player under 21 as of July 31, 2026.

RULES


Each juror names three players in descending order of merit, worth 5, 3 and 1 points. The player with the most points wins.

Yamal won the first two editions with a wide margin. This time the gap is two points.

Ranking

Lamine Yamal (Spain, FC Barcelona): 96 pts

Pau Cubarsí (Spain, FC Barcelona): 94 pts

Warren Zaïre-Emery (France, Paris-SG): 20 pts

Lennart Karl (Germany, Bayern): 10 pts

Yan Diomandé (Ivory Coast, RB Leipzig): 8 pts

Ayyoub Bouaddi (Morocco, Lille): 7 pts

Kerim Alajbegović (Bosnia and Herzegovina, RB Salzburg): 5 pts

Éli Junior Kroupi (France, Bournemouth): 2 pts

Ibrahim Maza (Algeria, Bayer Leverkusen): 1 pt

Johan Manzambi (Switzerland, Freiburg): 0 pt

Cubarsí appears on 26 of the 27 ballots

Three former winners left Yamal off their ballots entirely: Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Roberto Baggio. Counting the ballots shows how tight the race was: 27 jurors voted, 15 put Yamal first and 12 put Cubarsí first. Cubarsí appears on 26 of the 27 ballots (all but Luka Modrić's), Yamal on 24.

All Jury Votes

Gianni Rivera (Ballon d'Or 1969): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Yamal, 3. Alajbegović

Oleg Blokhin (1975): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Allan Simonsen (1977): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1980, 1981): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Karl, 3. Yamal

Igor Belanov (1986): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Kroupi

Ruud Gullit (1987): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Bouaddi, 3. Karl

Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Karl, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Lothar Matthäus (1990): 1. Yamal, 2. Diomandé, 3. Cubarsí

Jean-Pierre Papin (1991): 1. Yamal, 2. Zaïre-Emery, 3. Cubarsí

Roberto Baggio (1993): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Karl, 3. Alajbegović

Hristo Stoichkov (1994): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Diomandé, 3. Yamal

George Weah (1995): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Yamal, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Matthias Sammer (1996): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Zaïre-Emery, 3. Yamal

Ronaldo Nazário (1997, 2002): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Rivaldo (1999): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Yamal, 3. Diomandé

Luís Figo (2000): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Michael Owen (2001): 1. Yamal, 2. Zaïre-Emery, 3. Cubarsí

Pavel Nedvěd (2003): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Yamal, 3. Bouaddi

Andriy Shevchenko (2004): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Bouaddi

Ronaldinho (2005): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Yamal, 3. Diomandé

Fabio Cannavaro (2006): 1. Cubarsí, 2. Yamal, 3. Bouaddi

Kaká (2007): 1. Yamal, 2. Zaïre-Emery, 3. Cubarsí

Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Maza

Luka Modrić (2018): 1. Yamal, 2. Alajbegović, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Karim Benzema (2022): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Bouaddi

Rodri (2024): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Kroupi

Ousmane Dembélé (2025): 1. Yamal, 2. Cubarsí, 3. Zaïre-Emery

Three former winners did not vote: Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Zinédine Zidane (1998) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017).

Women's Young Talent Ranking

The women's winner is chosen by a jury made up of the Ballon d'Or Féminin laureates since its creation in 2018, the other players who have finished on the podium, and one member of France Football's editorial management. The reference period runs from August 3, 2025 to July 19, 2026, for club and country. The award recognizes the best player under 21 as of July 31, 2026.

The same three criteria apply, in order of importance:

Each juror names two players in descending order of merit, worth 2 and 1 points. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the number of first-place citations decides.

Vicky López holds both lines of the roll of honor. As last year, she dominated the vote and left her teammate Clara Serrajordi ten points behind.

Ranking of women's young talent

Vicky López (Spain, FC Barcelona): 21 pts

Clara Serrajordi (Spain, FC Barcelona): 11 pts

Veerle Buurman (Netherlands, Chelsea): 7 pts

Lily Yohannes (United States, OL Lyonnes): 7 pts

Felicia Schröder (Sweden, Häcken): 2 pts

Buurman and Yohannes finish level on 7 points, and the tiebreak separates them: Buurman collected three first-place votes against two for Yohannes. López was named on 13 of the 16 ballots and took 8 first places, against 3 for Serrajordi.

Every Juror’s Vote

Ada Hegerberg (Ballon d'Or Féminin 2018): 1. Yohannes, 2. Serrajordi

Pernille Harder (2nd in 2018): 1. López, 2. Yohannes

Lucy Bronze (2nd in 2019): 1. Buurman, 2. López

Alex Morgan (3rd in 2019): 1. Yohannes, 2. López

Alexia Putellas (2021, 2022): 1. López, 2. Serrajordi

Jennifer Hermoso (2nd in 2021): 1. López, 2. Serrajordi

Sam Kerr (3rd equal in 2021, 3rd in 2022, 2nd in 2023): 1. Buurman, 2. López

Vivianne Miedema (3rd equal in 2021): 1. Buurman, 2. Schröder

Beth Mead (2nd in 2022): 1. López, 2. Schröder

Aitana Bonmatí (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026): 1. Serrajordi, 2. López

Fridolina Rolfö (3rd equal in 2023): 1. López, 2. Buurman

Salma Paralluelo (3rd equal in 2023, 3rd in 2024): 1. López, 2. Serrajordi

Caroline Graham Hansen (2nd in 2024): 1. Serrajordi, 2. López

Mariona Caldentey (2nd in 2025): 1. López, 2. Serrajordi

Alessia Russo (3rd in 2025): 1. López, 2. Yohannes

Emmanuel Bojan, deputy editor-in-chief of France Football: 1. Serrajordi, 2. Yohannes

Two former podium finishers did not vote: Dzsenifer Marozsán (3rd in 2018) and Megan Rapinoe (2019 winner).