Lennart Karl and Yan Diomande lead Golden Boy 2026 nominations
Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl and RB Leipzig's Yan Diomande are among the Bundesliga players nominated for the Golden Boy 2026 award.
Presented annually by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport since 2003, the Golden Boy honours the best under-21 player competing in one of Europe's top-flight leagues, as determined by the UEFA coefficient rankings. The winner is selected by a panel of leading football journalists.
Karl earned his place on the shortlist after a breakthrough 2025/26 campaign in which he helped Bayern secure a Bundesliga and DFB Cup double. The 18-year-old contributed nine goals and eight assists in 40 competitive appearances, while also winning his first three senior Germany caps. A thigh injury ultimately denied him the chance to feature at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Watch: Lennart Karl lighting up the game
Diomande enjoyed an equally impressive debut season with Leipzig. The 19-year-old recorded 13 goals and 10 assists in 36 appearances across all competitions, earning the Bundesliga Rookie of the Season award. He also broke into the Côte d'Ivoire senior squad, making 14 appearances, including four at the World Cup.
Karl and Diomande are both currently ranked among the top-10 nominees. Cologne's Saïd El Mala, VfB Stuttgart's Finn Jeltsch and Bayer Leverkusen's Christian Kofane are among the Bundesliga players included in the top 100.
Watch: Yan Diomande's 2025/26 season in retrospect
The Golden Boy 2026 winner will be announced in November. Paris Saint-Germain's Désiré Doué claimed the award in 2025, while Mario Götze (2011, Borussia Dortmund), Renato Sanches (2016, Benfica/ Bayern Munich) and Erling Haaland (2020, Dortmund), Jude Bellingham (2023, Dortmund/ Real Madrid) are the only previous winners who were playing for Bundesliga clubs at some point during the year they won the award.
