Golden Boy Award nominees: United and PSG with the most candidates

The race for the Ballon d'Or has been fierce, and the winner is allegedly already known, as Vinicius Junior has reportedly been informed of his triumph. However, another renowned award in European football waits for its laureate - Golden Boy Award.

It was established by the Italian paper Tuttosport in 2003 and is given to the most impressive young player (under the age of 21) in a calendar year in European top tiers. This year's winner will be pronounced at the ceremony in Turin on December 16, and the shortlist of 25 nominees was announced earlier today.

The Premier League has the most candidates (7), coming from four clubs - Man City, Man United, Crystal Palace, and Tottenham. In addition, the Red Devils and Paris Saint-Germain have the most nominees - three each. Generally, eight different leagues have their representatives among the candidates - English Premier League, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, French Ligue 1, Spanish La Liga, Austrian Bundesliga, Dutch Eredivisie, and Portuguese Liga Portugal.

UEFA admits: 'The calendar is full'

The Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid each have two names on the list as well as Bayern Munich, Man City and Juventus. The Portuguese sides Porto and Benfica each provided one candidate, just as many as Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, Valencia, Crystal Palace, RB Salzburg, Tottenham, and Monaco.

Some of the names that won this renowned accolade in the past are Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba, Raheem Sterling, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Jude Bellingham, who was last year's winner. According to many, Barcelona's wonder, Lamine Yamal, is the favourite to win the award this year.