The annual prize recognises the best footballer under the age of 21 in one of Europe's top-flight leagues, per UEFA coefficient.
Mario Götze, Renato Sanches and Erling Haaland are previous Bundesliga-based winners of the award, presented by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport since 2003 and decided by a panel of experts.
Bellingham is one of six Borussia Dortmund players on the shortlist. The England international, who turns 19 on 29 June, cemented his position as one of the most complete young midfielders in world football during the 2021/22 campaign. He registered six goals and 14 assists across 44 appearances in all competitions, whilst winning more challenges and covering more ground than any of his teammates.
Reyna also makes the grade. Despite various injuries restricting the US international to 13 apperances, the 19-year-old became the youngest player to reach 50 Bundesliga games - a record subsequently broken by Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz, who is a surprise omission. The 19-year-old, who made last year's top four along with fellow nominees Bellingham and Musiala, was on 10 goals and 14 assists before suffering a cruciate ligament injury in March.
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Musiala enjoyed a career-best season with eight goals and six assists in the colours of Bayern. The 15-time Germany international, 19, is joined by club-mates Gravenberch, Tanguy Nianzou and Malik Tillman - the third USMNT player on the 100-man shortlist, alongside Reyna and Borussia Mönchengladbach's breakout star Joe Scally.
Josko Gvardiol is one of three candidates currently on the books of 2021/22 DFB Cup winners RB Leipzig. Dortmund-loanee Ansgar Knauff's role in Eintracht Frankfurt's sensational UEFA Europa League triumph is also acknowleged with a nomination. The Germany U21 international played in every knockout fixture, scoring against Barcelona and West Ham, and was later named Young Player of the Tournament.
The list of nominees will be whittled down to 80, 60, 40 and 20, before the winner is revealed towards the end of the calendar year. Barcelona and Spain teenager Pedri won the award in 2021.
Bundesliga-based candidates in full:
Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund)
Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
Jayden Braaf (Borussia Dortmund)
Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund)
Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
Brian Brobbey (RB Leipzig)
Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
Ilaix Moriba (RB Leipzig)
Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich)
Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
Malik Tillman (Bayern Munich)
Tanguy Nianzou (Bayern Munich)
Luca Netz (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen)
Adam Hlozek (Bayer Leverkusen)
Jakub Kaminski (Wolfsburg)
Aster Vranckx (Wolfsburg)
Ansgar Knauff (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Georginio Rutter (Hoffenheim)
Jan Thielmann (Cologne)
Tiago Tomas (VfB Stuttgart)
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