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Jude Bellingham Becomes Third English Player To Win Golden Boy Award

Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham has won the 2023 Golden Boy award. Bellingham is the third English player ever to win the Golden Boy award.

Robert Summerscales

Jude Bellingham Becomes Third English Player To Win Golden Boy Award
Jude Bellingham Becomes Third English Player To Win Golden Boy Award /

Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham has won the 2023 Golden Boy award.

The award is given to the best player aged 21 or younger and currently based in one of Europe's top leagues.

Bellingham has been an instant hit in Madrid since joining from Borussia Dortmund in June.

The 20-year-old has scored 13 goals in his first 14 games for the Spanish club.

Jude Bellingham pictured celebrating after scoring his first goal for Real Madrid during a pre-season win over Manchester United in July 2023
Jude Bellingham is the 2023 Golden Boy award winner :: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire/William Volcov

Bellingham netted 14 goals in 42 games for Dortmund last season.

The Golden Boy award was established in Italy by the newspaper Tuttosport in 2003.

Since then, the voting pool has expanded and now includes journalists from Bild, Blick, A Bola, L'Equipe, France Football, Marca, Mundo Deportivo, Ta Nea, De Telegraaf and The Times.

According to Tuttosport.com, Bellingham received 97% of all votes cast this year.

Rafael van der Vaart was the first ever Golden Boy winner.

Wayne Rooney then became the first English winner in 2004.

Other than Bellingham and Rooney, the only other English player to win the Golden Boy award was Raheem Sterling in 2014.

Jude Bellingham pictured celebrating after scoring in England's 6-2 win over Iran at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Bellingham is the third English player ever to win the Golden Boy award :: IMAGO/Moritz Muller

Other notable former winners include Lionel Messi in 2005, Kylian Mbappe in 2017 and Erling Haaland in 2020.

Remarkably, Bellingham is the first player ever to win the Golden Boy award while playing for Real Madrid.

However, a Real Madrid player also won the 2023 Golden Girl award. That prize went to 18-year-old Colombia starlet Linda Caicedo.

Caicedo joined Madrid from Deportivo Cali in February.

She shone for Colombia at the Women's World Cup this summer, scoring two goals, including the official Goal of the Tournament.

Linda Caicedo pictured celebrating after scoring for Colombia against Germany at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
Linda Caicedo is the 2023 Golden Girl award winner :: IMAGO/AAP/Mark Evans
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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.

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