Most players would take a third straight Kopa Trophy and spend their speech talking about themselves. Lamine Yamal used his to point at somebody else. Having been named the best young player in the world for the third year running, the Barcelona winger stood on the stage and said the prize should really have gone to his team-mate Pau Cubarsi.
"I would have liked to see my team-mate Cubarsi here because I think this prize should have been for him," Yamal said. "He has been playing at an excellent level for some time." It is not the sort of line that usually comes from a teenager who has just made history, and it said a lot about how he sees the group he plays with.
A record that keeps growing
The Kopa Trophy goes to the best player under 21, and nobody has won it three times in a row before Yamal. Kylian Mbappe and Gavi have both held it in the past. Yamal has now passed them on the list, still only 19, and with a World Cup winner's medal already in his pocket from Spain's run this summer.
His acceptance was short and polite. He said it was an honour, reminded the room that this was his third year up on that stage, and thanked both his club and his national team. That was about all he gave away on himself.
The Cubarsi angle
Cubarsi is the quieter story. The centre-back has been one of the more composed defenders in Spain since breaking into the Barcelona first team, and he comes through the same academy as Yamal, which probably explains why the winger felt comfortable saying it in public. Calling out a friend in front of the whole football world, while collecting a trophy of your own, takes some nerve and some generosity in equal measure.
The evening also had a lighter moment. Thierry Henry, hosting a segment of the gala, asked Yamal about the growing pile of individual awards and whether this one was still the target for a player who has already done so much so early. Yamal's reply, by Goal's account, was a cheeky one.
What comes next
The Kopa age limit means the clock is ticking, but not quickly. Yamal has a couple more years of eligibility, which leaves room for a fourth, and the more interesting question is whether he turns up next October on the main shortlist as a genuine favourite for the big prize rather than a young-player winner. On this evidence, with Kane taking the top award, he is in the conversation. His reaction to winning suggests he knows it, and that he is not going to make a fuss about it.
Award facts: Kopa Trophy 2026 (best young player at the Ballon d'Or ceremony): Lamine Yamal, Barcelona and Spain. Third consecutive win, a record. Barcelona team-mate Pau Cubarsi was named by Yamal in his speech as a deserving candidate. The award goes to the best-performing player under 21.
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