Kopa Trophy 2026: The Ten Nominees, Read Against Their Cards

The Kopa Trophy goes to the best young player in the world, and on 26 October in London it will most likely go to Lamine Yamal for the third year running. Nobody has won it three times. He has the numbers, 24 goals and 17 assists for Barcelona before a torn hamstring ended his club season in April, and he has a World Cup winner's medal. But the award judges the whole of 2025-26, World Cup included, and at the World Cup the best young player was the one behind him: Pau Cubarsí, who played every minute of Spain's title and beat his club-mate to FIFA's Young Player Award. Below are all ten nominees, read against their EA FC 27 cards and the season the jury is actually judging, and the ballot we would cast. (Figures as of 17 October 2026.)

Yamal's 2025-26 was cut in half. Until 22 April he had 24 goals and 17 assists in 45 games for Barcelona; then a torn hamstring ended his club season and put the World Cup in doubt. He made it, short of fitness, and Spain won it, beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the final on 19 July. That made him the first teenager to win both the European Championship and the World Cup.

He has started this season as if the injury never happened: eight goals and nine assists in his first ten games for Barcelona. None of that counts for this award, and the jury will not need it.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 90 (DRI 93, PAS 87) — the highest-rated nominee and the only one at 90. Real-level: twenty-four goals and seventeen assists before April, then a World Cup. Tier: Generational.

Cubarsí's year is measured in minutes, and he played all of them. He started every one of Spain's eight World Cup matches, the final included, in a defence that conceded once in the tournament. FIFA then named him the World Cup's best young player, ahead of Yamal, the first Spaniard to win the award. For Barcelona he made 48 appearances and started 45.

He does not have Yamal's numbers, because centre-backs do not produce them. What he produced is the thing the award's own criteria list second, after individual performance: a team that won. He is also one of the seven names in our list of the best young centre-backs.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 86 (DEF 85, PHY 81). Real-level: a World Cup winner at nineteen who did not miss a minute of it. Tier: Elite Now.

The jury ranks three names each, so most of these eight are playing for third place. Some of them have had years the award was made for.

Diomande's 2025-26 was the breakout the award exists to recognise: twelve Bundesliga goals and eight assists for RB Leipzig, the league's rookie of the season, and 118 completed dribbles, second in Europe's top five leagues only to Yamal's 133 by Opta's count. Real Madrid paid for it in August, €125m up front according to ESPN, with up to €15m more in bonuses. He played all four of Ivory Coast's World Cup matches, and at Madrid he is still earning his starts.

The game moved him eighteen points in a year, one of the biggest rating jumps in FC 27.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 84 (PAC 93, DRI 87). Real-level: Europe's second-best dribbler last season, now fighting for a place at Real Madrid. Tier: Elite-in-Waiting.

Zaïre-Emery's season ended with a Ligue 1 title and a second straight Champions League, won on penalties against Arsenal, and with a complaint. He started the final on the bench and later called the decision unfair. Across 54 games he scored three goals. At the World Cup France used him only in the knockout rounds, the first time off the bench in the 2-0 quarter-final win over Morocco. This season he is back in the side as the right-sided eight in PSG's midfield three.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 83 (PHY 85, DRI 81). Real-level: two Champions League medals at twenty, still not a certain starter in the biggest games. Tier: Ready Now.

Bouaddi's case is the World Cup. In Morocco's opener against Brazil, his first competitive cap, he had 86 touches, a Morocco record for a single match, and he started all five games of a run to the quarter-finals. His Lille season is quieter on paper, one assist in 30 Ligue 1 games, which is not what a holding midfielder is for. Manchester City paid £81.3m plus £4.3m in add-ons in August, Sky Sports reported, the most expensive teenager in Premier League history. He has yet to start a Premier League game for them. More on that in our list of the best young central midfielders.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 80 (DRI 79, PHY 76) — the game still lists him at Lille. Real-level: five World Cup starts, three Premier League appearances off the bench. Tier: Elite-in-Waiting.

Kroupi scored thirteen Premier League goals as a teenager in his first full season, and the thirteenth decided two seasons at once. It opened the scoring in a 1-1 draw with Manchester City on 19 May that sealed Bournemouth's first European qualification and handed Arsenal the title. France did not take him to the World Cup. He has not played since May: a foot injury in pre-season needed surgery in July, and in early October BBC Sport reported him still a month away from a return.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 80 (SHO 83, PAC 83) — a striker's card for a forward Bournemouth use behind the striker. Real-level: thirteen league goals at nineteen, none yet this season. Tier: Elite-in-Waiting.

Manzambi lost the Europa League final to Aston Villa in May and joined them in July, for a club-record fee reported at over £50m. Between those dates he scored three goals and made two for Switzerland at the World Cup. His Freiburg season was a full one: 47 games, seven goals, six assists. Born on 14 October 2005, he made the award's age cut by ten weeks, and on his 21st birthday he scored on his Champions League debut in a 6-0 win over Fenerbahçe.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 80 (DRI 83, SHO 74). Real-level: five goal contributions at a World Cup, and a Champions League goal on his birthday. Tier: Elite-in-Waiting.

Born and raised in Berlin, an Algeria international, Maza had his best afternoon of the season at the World Cup: Player of the Match as Algeria came from behind to beat Jordan 2-1, their first World Cup win since 2014. He started all four of Algeria's matches. His first Leverkusen season produced five goals in 44 games, and he has started every Bundesliga game of this one.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 80 (DRI 85, PAS 77). Real-level: an every-week Bundesliga starter at twenty. Tier: Ready Now.

At seventeen Karl became the youngest player to score for Bayern in the Champions League, on 22 October 2025, and he finished the season with nine goals and eight assists in all competitions. Germany named him in their World Cup squad; fifteen days later he tore a thigh muscle in training and missed the tournament. He missed pre-season too, and has one goal in seven appearances since returning in August.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 77 (DRI 84). Real-level: nine goals and eight assists for Bayern at seventeen and eighteen. Tier: Elite-in-Waiting.

The lowest card among the nominees belongs to the player with the most dramatic year. In the World Cup play-offs he scored the winning penalty in Bosnia and Herzegovina's shoot-out against Wales, then scored again in the shoot-out that beat Italy in the final in Zenica. At the tournament he scored the opener against Qatar to take Bosnia into the knockout rounds for the first time. Thirteen goals and four assists in 44 games for Salzburg made up the club half of his case, and Juventus paid Bayer Leverkusen €30m for him in August, Reuters reported.

Scout Gamer Read — EA FC 27: 71 (DRI 75, PAC 73) — six points below any other nominee. Real-level: thirteen goals at Salzburg, a World Cup goal and a shoot-out that knocked out Italy. Tier: Ready Now.

Our Ballot — Five, Three, One

Three eligible players had seasons that would have fit on this list:

Kopa Trophy 2026: Quick Reference