Jude Bellingham won the Kopa Trophy, the trophy for the best player under 21, on Monday evening. The twenty-year-old Real Madrid midfielder was presented with the award at the gala France Football, the medium that also organizes the Ballon d’Or election. Unlike the Golden Ball election, the Kopa Trophy winner is not chosen by journalists and fellow footballers, but by former Ballon d’Or winners.
The Englishman earned the award because of his good performances at his previous club, Borussia Dortmund. The Kopa Trophy, like the Ballon d’Or, will be awarded based on performance in the 2022/23 season. Because of these performances, Bellingham was top favorite to win the trophy for best player under 21 years of age. Last season, the then nineteen-year-old Bellingham was already regularly captain those Boruses. He also became top scorer at the German people’s club in all competitions.
Last summer, Bellingham left for Madrid after 132 games (24 goals and 25 assists) for no less than 103 million euros. Bellingham’s performance in Spain is impressive, as the top talent is still one-on-one in terms of goals after thirteen official matches. The Englishman scored two of these goals last Saturday in the 1-2 away match against FC Barcelona, in which he single-handedly turned the match in favor of the Royal.
Bellingham trumps Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Pedri (FC Barcelona) and Gavi (FC Barcelona). According to the bookmakers, they were also high in the list for winning the prize. The latter two talents from Barcelona already won the prize in the previous two years.
The last remaining Dutchman on the shortlist, Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig), also missed out on the prestigious prize. The former PSV player was one of the last ten remaining contenders for the Kopa Trophy. Simons earned the nomination by becoming joint top scorer in the Eredivisie last season with 19 goals. The nine-time Dutch international has also started well at Leipzig. The Amsterdam Paris Saint-Germain loanee has four goals and seven assists after fourteen official matches.
Other nominees:
The other players still eligible for the Kopa Trophy were Rasmus Højlund (Manchester United), Alejandro Baldé (FC Barcelona), Antonio Silva (SL Benfica) and Elye Wahi (RC Lens). They complete the top ten for best players under 21 years old from the past year.
Winner 2019
In 2019, Matthijs de Ligt won the Kopa Trophy. To date, he is the only Dutch person to have won this trophy, as the prize was only awarded for the first time in 2018. Simons was close to succeeding De Ligt this year, but Bellingham put a stop to his plans.