Hakan Calhanoglu, Gianluca Gaudino, Matthias Ginter, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Julian Green, Max Meyer (l. to r.) are all in contention to lift the 2014 European Golden Boy award
Hakan Calhanoglu, Gianluca Gaudino, Matthias Ginter, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Julian Green, Max Meyer (l. to r.) are all in contention to lift the 2014 European Golden Boy award

Six Bundesliga players up for Golden Boy award

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Cologne - Six players from the Bundesliga have made the 40-man shortlist for the 2014 European Golden Boy award.

Previous Bundesliga winners

Hakan Calhanoglu (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Gianluca Gaudino (both FC Bayern München), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), Max Meyer (FC Schalke 04) and Julian Green (on loan at Hamburger SV from Bayern) are all in the running for the prize, awarded to the best player in Europe under the age of 21.

Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart was the first recipient of the prize when it was launched in 2003, with Bayern's Mario Götze scooping the accolade in 2011.

The winner of the annual award, which is voted for by some of Europe's leading newspapers, will be announced in December.

Nominees in full:

Germany: Hakan Calhanoglu (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Gianluca Gaudino (both FC Bayern München), Mathias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Green (Hamburger SV) and Max Meyer (FC Schalke 04)

England: Calum Chambers (Arsenal FC), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea FC), John Stones (Everton FC), Raheem Sterling, Lazar Markovic, Divock Origi (Liverpool FC), Adnan Januzaj, Luke Shaw (Manchester United FC), Nabil Bentaleb and Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur FC)

Spain: Gerard Deulofeu (Sevilla FC), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Club), Sandro Ramirez, Munir El Haddadi (FC Barcelona), Saul Niguez (Club Atletico de Madrid)

Italy: Domenico Berardi (US Sassuolo), Franco Bernardeschi (ACF Fiorentina), Kingsley Coman (Juventus), Keita Balde Diao (SS Lazio), Mateo Kovacic (Internazionale Milano)

France: Marquinhos, Adrien Rabiot (Paris Saint-Germain), Benjamin Mendy (Olympique de Marseille), Lucas Ocampos (AS Monaco FC)

Netherlands: Tonny Vilhena (Feyenoord), Jetro Willems (PSV Eindhoven), Arkadiusz Milik (AFC Ajax)

Belgium: Dennis Praet, Alexander Mitrovic (RSC Anderlecht)

Elsewhere: Oliver Torres (FC Porto), Bruma (Galatasaray AS), Gonzalez (FC Basel 1893), Nikola Ninkovic (FK Partizan Belgrade), Luka Zahovic (NK Maribor)