Barcelona rising star the favourite to win prestigious honour at Ballon d’Or ceremony

The past year has seen Barcelona youth sensation Lamine Yamal enjoy a meteoric rise in stature.

From being a 16-year-old teenager making his breakthrough into senior football, he has become one of the best wingers in Europe on current form.

Now 17, Yamal has already been installed as the favourite to win the prestigious Golden Boy award this year, for his exploits with Barcelona and Spain.

And if a report from Mundo Deportivo is to go by, the La Masia product could be in line to bag another individual honour.

Yamal favourite to win Kopa Trophy

Indeed, according to the report, Yamal is now seen as the favourite to win the 2024 Kopa Trophy which will be awarded at the Ballon d’Or ceremony next month.

The Kopa Trophy is awarded by France Football to the best Under-21 footballer in the world as voted by former Ballon d’Or winners.

Barcelona sensations Pedri and Gavi won the honour in 2021 and 2022, respectively but it was Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham who bagged the prize last year.

This year, Yamal is in contention for the prize, along with his Barça teammate Pau Cubarsi, Real Madrid’s Arda Guler, Manchester United starlet Alejandro Garnacho, and PSG’s Warren Zaire-Emery, among others.

Despite there being some deserving contenders, everything indicates that it is Yamal who is the favourite to win the Kopa Trophy this year.

Considering the year he has enjoyed, it is not ruled out that he enjoys a fairly high finish in the Ballon d’Or rankings either, having made it to the final 30, becoming the youngest nominee for the Golden Orb in the process.