Football

World Cup 2022 Young Player Award Odds: Argentina youngster favourite to clinch honour

World Cup 2022 Young Player Award Odds: Argentina youngster favourite to clinch honour

The FIFA Young Player Award is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious honours available at the World Cup.

The prize signifies which youngster lit up the tournament, with the winner more often than not going on to have a phenomenal career in the game, at both club and international level.

Previous winners of the World Cup FIFA Young Player Award include Pele, Michael Owen, Landon Donovan and Thomas Muller.

The last two awards have gone to French players, with Paul Pogba clinching the honour in 2014 and Kylian Mbappe securing it in 2018.

Who will win the 2022 World Cup Young Player Award?

As always, there are plenty of candidates for the Young Player Award. Several veterans of the game like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo may be bowing out of the competition, but many young stars are just getting started.

The winners of the award haven’t always lifted the trophy with their nation, with the honour solely focusing on their individual efforts on the pitch. Here are the frontrunners for 2022:

Jude Bellingham – England

As mentioned, an England player has previously received the honour, with an 18-year-old Michael Owen winning the award for his feats at the 1998 World Cup in France. This time around it is a Three Lions midfielder who has been stealing the show, with Jude Bellingham receiving huge plaudits for his displays in Qatar.

The Borussia Dortmund teen kicked things off at the 2022 World Cup for Gareth Southgate’s side, scoring the opening goal in the 6-2 win against Iran. He then helped create several other goals as England made it to the quarter-finals. The likes of Liverpool and Real Madrid are reportedly desperate to sign the 19-year-old as soon as possible.

Enzo Fernandez – Argentina

Another young midfielder catching the eye in Qatar is Argentina prodigy Enzo Fernandez. He was forced to watch on from the bench in the early stages of the tournament, but quickly generated headlines thanks to his stunning goal in the group stage win over Mexico.

He was handed a starting role quickly after that moment, and has now played every minute of Argentina’s knockout stage fixtures. Like Bellingham, Benfica star Fernandez is now the subject of countless rumours about his club future, and again like Bellingham, Premier League club Liverpool have been strongly linked.

Josko Gvardiol – Croatia

Defenders don’t always get the credit they deserve on the big stage, with attackers like Lionel Messi and Mbappe stealing much of the headlines in Qatar. But Croatia centre-back Josko Gvardiol has done his utmost to buck that trend.

The talented 20-year-old has stood up to some of the world’s best forwards in Croatia’s lengthy run in the tournament, with only an inspired Messi ending Gvardiol’s exciting World Cup journey. Like Bellingham and Fernandez, some of Europe’s biggest clubs are reportedly lining up to sign the RB Leipzig youngster.

World Cup

Young Player Award odds

  • Enzo Fernandez – 4/11
  • Josko Gvardiol – 7/2
  • Jude Bellingham – 6/1

Who should win the Young Player Award?

Argentina wonderkid Fernandez is the strong favourite to land the award, given both his displays so far and indeed because he still has a game left to play, which is the final against France. Croatia’s Gvardiol also has a third/fourth place play-off to play against Morocco.

But it is hard to argue a case against Bellingham for the prestigious award. At just 19, he helped inspire a nation with his tireless performances, with his constant tackling, dribbling and passing all constantly hitting the highest of standards.


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