Midfielder Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) and striker Erling Haaland (Manchester City) were officially awarded prestigious individual awards at the Golden Boy gala in Turin, Italy.
Bellingham was awarded the Golden Boy award, honoring the most impressive young player of the calendar year with a dominant win.
Bellingham received 45 out of 50 voting members in 1st place. The remaining five ranked him 2nd. This result helped the English player win a total of 485 points out of the maximum 500 points, accounting for 97 %.
In addition to journalists’ votes, Bellingham also won in fan voting on the website.
With this victory, midfielder Bellingham also became the first Real Madrid player to receive Tuttosport’s award.
Previously, at the Golden Ball awards ceremony, Jude Bellingham also won the Best Young Player award, also known as the Kopa Trophy.
This is a worthy reward for the English star after his impressive performance in Real Madrid since moving from Dortmund in the 2023 Summer transfer period.
This season, Bellingham has scored 15 goals in all competitions so far and broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for the most goals scored in the first 15 matches of a player at the Royal Spanish team.
“I’m grateful to all the people I’ve met along the way and helped me get to where I am now,” Bellingham shared. “I think Wayne Rooney was probably the person who had the biggest influence on me when I was growing up. I learned from the way he plays, the way he fights, but there are many other players that I also learn from.”
“I am truly grateful for everything football has given me so far in my life and for the support from my family to keep playing and keep enjoying,” the 20-year-old added .
Meanwhile, striker Erling Haaland beat Lionel Messi and other opponents to win the Golden Man award after having an impressive performance in his first season in a Manchester City shirt.
The Norwegian striker has scored 52 goals in 53 matches for Manchester City, including scoring the most goals in a single season in the Premier League.
Haaland’s impressive achievements contributed greatly to helping Manchester City win a historic “treble” last season with the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League championship.
Also at the ceremony, Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati was awarded the Best Female Player of the Year award.
Previously, the Spanish midfielder was also honored with the 2023 Women’s Golden Ball award after having an extremely successful season with Barcelona and the Spanish Team.
The 25-year-old star joined the Barcelona women’s team to win the “treble” including Liga F, Women’s Champions League and Spanish Super Cup. At the team level, Aitana Bonmati joined the Spanish women’s team to win the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.