Two Ghanaians – Felix Afena-Gyan and Kamaldeen Sulemana – have been named among a 100-player nominees list for the 2022 Golden Boy award.
Italian newspaper Tuttosport has run the award ever since 2003.
The annual prize recognizes the best footballer under the age of 21 in one of Europe’s top-flight leagues, per Uefa coefficient.
Both Afena-Gyan and Sulemana enjoyed impressive campaigns with AS Roma and Stade Rennais in the Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1 respectively during the period under review.
The Black Stars duo will be up against four other players of Ghanaian descent for the 2022 honour. They are Ryan Brobbey, Yunus Musah, Ansgar Knauff and Jeremy Doku,
Current holder Pedri is up for the award again, while Barcelona teammates Nico and Gavi are also nominated.
Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala and Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham are also in the group of nominees.
The first list of 100 for 2022 was announced on Wednesday and it will be whittled down over the coming months until the winner is announced.
Below is a complete list of the 2022 Golden Boy award nominees:
- Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund)
- Felix Afena-Gyan (Roma)
- Lucien Agoume (Inter)
- Anouar Ait El Hadj (Anderlecht)
- Janis Antiste (Spezia)
- Alejandro Balde (Barcelona)
- Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
- Stipe Biuk (HNK Hajduk Split)
- Edoardo Bove (Roma)
- Jayden Braaf (Borussia Dortmund)
- Brian Brobbey (Ajax)
- Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)
- Rayan Cherki (Lyon)
- Mohamed-Ali Cho (Angers)
- Francisco Conceicao (Porto)
- Yan Couto (Manchester City)
- Mohamed Daramy (Ajax)
- Amar Dedic (Red Bull Salzburg)
- Amad Diallo (Manchester United)
- Diego Moreira (Benfica)
- Jeremy Doku (Rennes)
- Radu Dragusin (Juventus)
- Hugo Ekitike (Reims)
- Anthony Elanga (Manchester United)
- Harvey Elliott (Liverpool)
- Sebastiano Esposito (Inter)
- Maxime Esteve (Montpellier)
- Fabio Carvalho (Liverpool)
- Fabio Silva (Wolves)
- Ansu Fati (Barcelona)
- Gavi (Barcelona)
- Joe Gelhardt (Leeds)
- Wilfried Gnonto (Zurich)
- Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich)
- Malo Gusto (Lyon)
- Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
- Henrique Araujo (Benfica)
- Aaron Hickey (Bologna)
- Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Adam Hlozek (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Ki-Jana Hoever (Wolves)
- Ilaix Moriba (RB Leipzig)
- Joelson Fernandes (Sporting CP)
- Isak Bergmann Johannesson (Copenhagen)
- Nemanja Jovic (Partizan Belgrade)
- Arnaud Kalimuendo (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Jakub Kaminski (Wolfsburg)
- Ansgar Knauff (Borussia Dortmund)
- Kacper Kozlowski (Brighton)
- Isaac Lihadji (Lille)
- Castello Lukeba (Lyon)
- Noni Madueke (PSV Eindhoven)
- Eliot Matazo (Monaco)
- Nathanael Mbuku (Reims)
- Fabio Miretti (Juventus)
- Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund)
- Yunus Musah (Valencia)
- Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
- Cher Ndour (Benfica)
- Luca Netz (Borussia Monchengladbach)
- Tanguy Nianzou (Bayern Munich)
- Nico (Barcelona)
- Nico Williams (Athletic Club)
- Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Becir Omeragic (Zurich)
- Simone Pafundi (Udinese)
- Matias Palacios (Basel)
- Paulo Bernardo (Benfica)
- Pedri (Barcelona)
- Yeremi Pino (Villarreal)
- Devyne Rensch (Ajax)
- Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
- Fabian Rieder (Young Boys)
- Rodrigo Ribeiro (Sporting CP)
- Luka Romero (Lazio)
- Georginio Rutter (Hoffenheim)
- Lazar Samardzic (Udinese)
- Cisse Sandra (Club Brugge)
- Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham)
- Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach)
- Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta)
- Benjamin Sesko (Reb Bull Salzburg)
- Brandon Soppy (Udinese)
- Matias Soule (Juventus)
- Filip Stevanovic (Manchester City)
- Luka Sucic (Red Bull Salzburg)
- Kamaldeen Sulemana (Rennes)
- Tomas Suslov (Groningen)
- Jan Thielmann (Koln)
- Tiago Tomas (Sporting CP)
- Malik Tillman (Bayern Munich)
- Destiny Udogie (Hellas Verona)
- Maarten Vandevoordt (Genk)
- Aster Vranckx (Wolfsburg)
- Elye Wahi (Montpellier)
- Illya Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kyiv)
- Nicola Zalewski (Roma)
