Camavinga and Gavi fight it out for the Golden Boy Award

The Golden Boy award, for which MARCA is a judge, has become a real benchmark in the world of football.

This week, the names of the one hundred nominees for the chance to be proclaimed the best young footballer in the world under the age of 21 were announced.

Tuttosport opened the website for fans from all over the world to vote for their favourites and the response was immediate.

Some 493,000 votes from all over the world came in over the space of two days to proclaim a cyber podium, with Ecuador's Piero Hincapie at the top of the list. The South American nation's votes for the Bayer Leverkusen player have propelled him to the first position, which is only a reference, as the winner of the award has not yet been chosen.

Eduardo Camavinga came second, followed by Gavi.

The result, as we said, only serves as a reference and to take a prize called Web, as the name of the winner still has to overcome different steps before reaching its final stage and especially its final decision after the vote of 30 journalists from around the world. The presence of the Bayer Leverkusen defender, despite his worth, has had a lot to do with the reaction of football fans in Ecuador. The attraction effect worked.

The award has served to recognise emerging stars such as Leo Messi, Paul Pogba, Matthijs De Ligt, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Pedri, the latest winner. The list of 100 candidates will be reduced to 20 finalists. The 20th edition of the Golden Boy is already underway and everything points to a fight between Camavinga and Gavi. The award used to be presented in December, but the World Cup in Qatar has brought the deadlines forward and in 2022, the gala will take place in Turin on 15 October.