Pau Cubarsí crowned Golden Boy 2025, second defender to win since De Ligt in 2018

Pau Cubarsí was crowned Golden Boy 2025 on Monday, becoming the best player under 21 in the world according to this annual award. The FC Barcelona defender, 19, succeeds Paris Saint-Germain’s Désiré Doué, winner of the previous edition.

World champions with Spain this summer, La Roja can boast having placed two players at the top of individual youth awards this season. Cubarsí had finished on the Golden Boy podium last year, before claiming the prize this year. His club and national team teammate Lamine Yamal, crowned in 2024, could not pursue a second consecutive victory under the trophy’s regulations.

This achievement carries historical significance: Cubarsí becomes only the second defender to inscribe his name on the Golden Boy honours list, after Dutch player Matthijs De Ligt, then at Ajax, in 2018. A rarity in a honours list traditionally dominated by attacking profiles.

The Barcelona player had also already been distinguished as best young player of the 2026 World Cup. He beat this year a list of 24 other candidates, among them Warren Zaïre-Emery, Eli Kroupi Junior, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Yan Diomandé and Endrick.

A few weeks earlier, at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, it was Lamine Yamal who won the Kopa Trophy rewarding the best young male talent of the season, beating Cubarsí for the third consecutive year. The Golden Boy thus offers the blaugrana defender an individual consecration in its own right, distinct from that of his illustrious teammate.