Kopa Trophy: what is it, nominees and who has won it before

In 2022, Barcelona’s Gavi won. Before him came Pedri, De Ligt and Mbappé, the French sensation taking the inaugural crown. I am, of course, referring to the Kopa Trophy, the award for being voted the world’s best player under the age of 21, part of the Ballon d’Or celebrations.

The 2023 edition will once again see the winner of this award picked by the previous winners of the Ballon d’Or that are still alive, and this includes the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Franz BeckeNBAuer and Ronaldinho.

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Previous Kopa Trophy winners

France Football has been awarding the Kopa Trophy since 2018, although in 2020, the magazine organisers decided against handing out the award in a coronavirus-impacted year. As mentioned above there have been four winners thus far:

2022 - Gavi (Pablo Martín Páez Gavira)

2021 - Pedri (Pedro González López)

2019 - Matthijs de Ligt

2018 - Kylian Mbappé

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Who are the 2023 Kopa Trophy nominees?

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) - already lined up for the Golden Boy

Gavi (Barcelona)

Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)

Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)

Pedri (Barcelona)

Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig)

Alejandro Balde (Barcelona)

Antonio Silva (Benfica)

Rasmus Hojlund (Manchester United)

Elye Wahi (Lens)

Why is it called the Kopa Trophy?

The trophy is named after former France, Angers, Reims and Real Madrid player Raymond Kopa, who won the Ballon d’Or award in 1958. Years later, at a FIFA event in 2004, the great Pelé named Kopa as one of the 125 greatest living Footballers.