All Kopa Tropy Winners Till Date:
Kopa Trophy is a prestigious award presented and organised by a French Football magazine jointly with the Ballon d’Or ceremony to the best-performing footballer under the age of 21, which is hosted in Paris, France. The winner is selected by a jury of former Ballon d’Or winners with each of them getting to vote for three players with their first preference getting three points, the second choice two points, while the third is allotted one point. It is named after the French international Raymond Kopa who is also a recipient of the Ballon d’or trophy.
In its inaugural year of 2018, Kylian Mbappe won the award but sadly in the year 2020, the trophy was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trophy is currently held in 2023 by England International, Jude Bellingham.
| Year | Winner | 2nd Place | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2018 |
Kylian Mbappé (France/PSG) |
Christian Pulisic
(USA/Borussia Dortmund) |
Justin Kluivert (Netherlands/Roma) |
|
2019 |
Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands/Juventus) |
Jadon Sancho (England/Borussia Dortmund) |
João Félix
(Portugal/Atlético Madrid) |
|
2021 |
Pedri
(Spain/Barcelona) |
Jude Bellingham (England/Borussia Dortmund) |
Jamal Musiala (Germany/Bayern Munich) |
|
2022 |
Gavi
(Spain/Barcelona) |
Eduardo Camavinga (France/Real Madrid) |
Jamal Musiala (Germany/Bayern Munich) |
|
2023 |
Jude Bellingham (England/Borussia Dortmund) |
Jamal Musiala (Germany/Bayern Munich) |
Pedri
(Spain/Barcelona) |
All Players Who Won The Kopa Trophy:
2018:
Winner: Kylian Mbappé Lottin
Kylian Mbappé is a footballer born on 20 December 1998, he was the first recipient of the award with 110 points playing in the forward position. Mbappe is renowned for his finishing, dribbling, and technical abilities. He plays for Paris Saint-German and the French National team.
At just 16 years of age, he started his professional career playing for AS Monaco making him the youngest player of the team, after two successful years at the club, Mbappé was signed for Paris Saint-Germain on a transfer fee of 180 million euros, making him the second-most-expensive player and the most expensive teenager player of all time.
In his career spanning over eight years, he played for AS Monaco and Paris Saint-German. He has a total of 418 appearances (including the national team)and has scored a staggering 298 goals. In his club career, he has won 12 trophies including 5 league titles.
Mbappe enjoys the captain-ship of the national team which won the World Cup in 2018 and was runners-up in World Cup 2022. Individually he has won over 30 awards, the most prominent awards include the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, the Young Player of the Year award for three consecutive years, the Golden Boy Award in 2017 and the FIFA World Cup Golden Boot award In 2022. He also remained Ligue 1 top goal scorer for five consecutive years.
Recently Mbappe made headlines when he decided not to renew his contract which is expiring in 2024, leading to Saudi Arabia side Al-Hilal offering him 1.1 billion dollars, it was said to be turned down by the player as he is likely to sign for Real Madrid which has already made several attempts, in conclusion things are looking good for the player who also sat third in the ballon d’or ratings this year.
2nd Place: The United States player Christian Pulisic was second on the list with 31 points.
3rd Place: The Netherlands national player Justin Kluivert with 18 points stood at the third position.
2019:
Winner: Matthijs de Ligt
Matthijs de Ligt is a Dutch footballer born on 12 August 1999 who plays primarily as a centre-back in the defensive position and is the second recipient of the award with 58 points. He plays for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and is a national team player.
De Ligt made his professional debut for Ajax and Netherlands at the age of 17 making him the second youngest player to achieve the feat. In his career spanning over eight years and played for three clubs namely; Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich. He has(including national team) 345 appearances and 27 goals, winning three league titles, three cup trophies and one runner-up in the UEFA Nationals League 2019. Individually, he has won 8 awards including Golden Boy (2018), Johan Cyruff trophy (2017-18), and Dutch Footballer of the Year (2018-19).
After a successful stint in Ajax and scoring the winning goal in the quarter-final which also made him the youngest captain at 19 years old of the club to play in the semi-final after 1993, he would be sold to the Serie A champions Juventus on a five-year contract for a transfer fee of 75 million euros which turned out to be successful but clearly it didn’t impress the team management and with two year left in his contract, he was sold to Bayern Munich for 67 million euros where immediately got his form back and help the team to win Bundesliga and DFL Supercup for the season 2022-23.
2nd Place: The England national Jadon Sancho was second on the list with 49 points.
3rd Place: Joao Felix, the Portuguese national player was third on the list with 41 points.
2021:
Winner: Pedro González López
Pedri was born on 25 November 2002 and plays as a midfielder and is the third recipient of the trophy with 89 points. He is a professional footballer playing for Barcelona and the Spain national team. Pedri was signed by Las Palmas on 15 July 2019 in a five-year contract and made his professional debut at just 16 years old, he also remains the youngest goal scorer of the club.
In his career spanning over five years and counting, playing for two clubs namely Las Palmas, Barcelona and the national team, he has 164 appearances and 21 goals, winning one league title, two cup trophies and runners-up in the 2020 Summer Olympics. Individually he has won the Golden Boy (2020), UEFA Euro 2020 Young Player of the Tournament and Trofeo Aldo Rovira (2021). At the start of his career, he showed his potential for Las Palmas and was quickly bought by Barcelona for a two-year contract in a transfer deal worth 5 million euros where he was given a free midfielder role and became the second youngest player in the club to reach 50 appearances.
In the middle of October 2021, Pedri signed a new contract with Barcelona for five additional years and a salary of 180 thousand euros, it also contained a unique record €1 billion release clause and now has 77 appearances for the club and scored 13 goals in just two years
Recently, Pedri sustained a right quadriceps injury and is still yet to recover, critics have blamed the club for using him excessively and not giving him proper rest, which on the good side is a problem, every footballer would like to have.
2nd Place: Jude Bellighamn was second on the list with 39 points.
3rd Place: Jamal Musiala secured third position with 38 points.
2022:
Winner: Pablo Martín Páez Gavira
Gavi was born on 5 August 2004 and is the fourth recipient of the trophy Spanish with 59 points. He is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Barcelona and the Spain national team. Gavi started his career at La Liara Balompié at only eight years old in 2010 and was selected by the Real Beltis youth team which turned out to be extraordinary as he scored 95 goals in just two years and by the end of the season, Barcelona would sign at the youngster and would be given his professional contract at just 15 years old.
Gavi made his international debut in the UEFA Nations League semi-final win against Italy on 6 October 2021 and became the youngest player(17 years old)to ever represent Spain at senior level. He signed a 4-year contract for a salary of 7 million euros and also has a 1 billion euro release clause which is similar to Pedri’s contract.
In his career, he has played for Barcelona and the national team with 127 appearances, scoring 13 goals and has won a league title, one domestic cup trophy and one UEFA National League (2022). Individually he has won the Golden Boy and Trofeo Aldo Rovir both in the same year.
He is considered one of the best midfielders in the world for his work rate and ball-controlling skills. Recently Gavi scored the winning goal for Spain against Norway in Euro qualifiers 2024 which ultimately qualified them for the upcoming tournament.
2nd Place: The Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga secured the second place.
3rd Place: The Bayern Munich wunderkind Jamal Musiala secured third place scoring 51 and 47 points respectively.
2023:
Winner: Jude Bellingham
Bellingham scored 90 points after a successful stint in Dortmund and Real Madrid. He was born on 29 June 2023 in Stourbridge, England and was selected to play by Birmingham Academy at just 8 years old for its youth side.
At just 16 years of age, he was selected to play for the main squad of the team, making 41 appearances and scoring 5 goals, he would go on to win the EFL Young Player of the Season and Championship Apprentice of the Year. His international career also started at the U-15 group and is now a frequent starter of the country with over 27 appearances and two goals, they were also runners-up in the Euros.
Top teams like Manchester United made a bid to sign him in the subsequent seasons, but he decided to choose Dortmund, as he wanted more playing time and space in the squad to enhance his abilities, his former team Birmingham retired his number 22 after his transfer to Dortmund which was a 25 million euros fee making him the most expensive 17-year-old in football history, His tenure at Dortmund was extraordinary as he would go on to score 12 goals in 92 appearances and his playmaking skills will lead the team to a DFB Pokal winners trophy and runners up in the Bundesliga, German top division in club football. He has a total of 170 appearances and 28 goals (including the national team).
On 14 June 2023, Real Madrid announced the signing of Bellingham on a six-year contract for a transfer fee of 103 million euros, he chose the number 5 to pay homage to club legend Zinedine Zidane. As of now, he’s been excellent for the team scoring 10 goals in 10 appearances. In the recent El Classico encounter against rivals Barcelona, he scored two goals and led the team to a 2-1 win in a tight contest.
2nd Place: Jamal Musiala was again second on the list with 42 points.
3rd Place: Pedri secured the third spot with 33 points.
