One of three German players: great honour for Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl

Three young Germany internationals are in the final selection for the "Golden Boy" award, Europe's biggest talent.

Lennart Karl (18/Bayern Munich), Said El Mala (20/1. FC Cologne) and Finn Jeltsch (20/VfB Stuttgart), who has already been nominated by Jürgen Klopp but not yet used, feature among the 25 candidates.

Italian daily sports paper Tuttosport and the portal Transfermarkt hand out the "Golden Boy" award every year. Eligible talents must have been born no earlier than 2006 and play in one of Europe's 25 strongest top divisions during the assessment period. Mario Götze, in 2011, remains the only German winner.

Joining them from the Bundesliga this year are Borussia Dortmund duo Konstantinos Karetsas (Greece) and Joane Gadou (France). No German made the shortlist in 2025, when the award went to Paris Saint-Germain's Frenchman Desiré Doué. Lamine Yamal (Spain) won in 2024, and Jude Bellingham (England) took it in 2023. An international jury decides the winner.