Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal has topped the 2026 Kopa Trophy top 10, the list of the world’s best players under 21.
He scored 24 goals and provided 18 assists for Barcelona last season, and it is the third year running that he has led the field.
Yamal’s club teammate Pau Cubarsí came second. The centre-back played 3,977 minutes for Barcelona last season, more than any outfield player and behind only goalkeeper Joan García. He also played every minute of Spain’s World Cup-winning run.
Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery was third. He played 4,224 minutes across all competitions, more than any other PSG player, and started 15 Champions League games. He won the Champions League for a second consecutive time with PSG, along with the French title, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.
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Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl was fourth. The 18-year-old attacking midfielder made 39 appearances in all competitions, with 24 starts, and finished with nine goals and eight assists.
Fifth was Côte d’Ivoire’s Yan Diomandé, who has moved to Real Madrid from RB Leipzig. He recorded 13 goals and 10 assists for Leipzig and had only 46 senior appearances by the end of last season. His senior debut came in March 2025.
Ayyoub Bouaddi of France took sixth place. The 18-year-old left Lille with 96 appearances to his name and, after a breakout World Cup with Morocco, joined Manchester City this summer.
Seventh was Kerim Alajbegović of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He scored 13 goals and provided four assists for RB Salzburg last season, before a move to Juventus.
Éli Junior Kroupi was eighth. The Bournemouth forward scored 13 Premier League goals in one of the best breakout seasons the competition has seen from a player his age. He is currently recovering from foot surgery.
Algeria’s Ibrahim Maza was ninth. He had five goals and seven assists in his first season in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.
Johan Manzambi of Switzerland completed the top 10. He had seven goals and nine assists at Stuttgart, then scored or assisted five times in four World Cup appearances. Aston Villa signed him after the tournament.
France had the most players in the list with three (Zaïre-Emery, Bouaddi and Kroupi), while Spain had two. Germany, Côte d’Ivoire, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Algeria and Switzerland each had one.
Yamal has now won the Kopa Trophy twice, and no one else has done that. The award is presented by France Football alongside the Ballon d’Or.
