Lamine Yamal wins 2026 Ballon d’Or Kopa Trophy as Lennart Karl finishes fourth
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal has won the 2026 Ballon d'Or Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best young player. Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl finished fourth in the rankings.
| Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images |
Lamine Yamal has been crowned the winner of the 2026 Ballon d’Or Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best player in world football under the age of 21.
The Barcelona star claimed the prize ahead of, among others, Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl and Bayer Leverkusen’s Ibrahim Maza.
Karl finished fourth in the rankings, behind Yamal, his Barcelona teammate Pau Cubarsí and Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaïre-Emery. Yan Diomande, who joined Real Madrid from RB Leipzig in the summer, rounded out the top five.
Yamal is also in contention for the Ballon d’Or men’s Player of the Year award, with the Barcelona youngster considered one of the favourites alongside Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé.
