French talent continues to make a strong showing in the race for the 2026 Golden Boy award.
This comes after France topped the list of countries with the most representation in the latest update to the list of nominees, in a new indication of the strength of French football in producing young talent.
Thirteen French players appeared among the nominees for the award, with France taking first place by a clear margin over its closest competitors.
England comes in second with 9 players, followed by the Netherlands and Germany with 8 players each, while the list also includes 7 players from Spain, 5 from Brazil, Italy and Portugal, and 4 from Ivory Coast and Poland.
These figures not only reflect numerical density but also confirm the continued remarkable French presence in the award given by "Tuttosport" to the best young player in the European leagues.
Leading the list of French names in the 2026 race is Paris Saint-Germain's Warren Zaire Emery, who ranked second in the first ranking of the list behind Spaniard Lamine Djamel.
Since the Barcelona star has already won the award in 2024, he cannot win it again, which makes Zaire Emery one of the most likely candidates to succeed his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Desiree Doué, the winner of the 2025 award.
Among the most prominent French names that are followed closely are Seny Mailo of Paris Saint-Germain and Ethan Mbappe of Lille.
