Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham and Reims star Melchie Dumornay have been crowned the winners of NXGN 2022 after being voted as the best teenage footballers on the planet.
Journalists from across GOAL’s worldwide network voted on the brightest wonderkids in the game, born on or after January 1, 2003.
Bellingham beat off strong competition to become the seventh winner of the men’s award, following in the footsteps of the likes of Jadon Sancho, Gianluigi Donnarumma and 2021 winner Ansu Fati.
The England international has become a star of the Dortmund team since arriving at Signal Iduna Park in the summer of 2020, and has contributed some crucial goals and assists this season while emerging as a leader in the dressing room.
Bellingham, 18, is also a regular in Gareth Southgate’s squad at international level and, in 2021, became the youngest player to ever appear in a knockout match at a European Championship finals.
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He beat Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz into second place, with Barcelona’s Gavi completing the podium.
Wirtz has enjoyed a stellar campaign in the Bundesliga, recording double figure totals for both goals and assists in 2021-22 before suffering a serious knee injury in early March.
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Gavi, meanwhile, has gone from playing for Barcelona’s Under-19s to being a regular starter for club and country in the space of nine months, and is expected to play a leading role as Xavi Hernandez oversees a rebuild at Camp Nou.
The top five in the men’s list is rounded out by Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala and Liverpool starlet Harvey Elliott, both of whom have established themselves in two of Europe’s most talented squads.
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The full men’s NXGN list, which also includes the likes of Youssoufa Moukoko, Ricardo Pepi, Hannibal Mejbri and Charlie Patino, .
Dumornay, meanwhile, becomes the third winner of the women’s prize, succeeding Hanna Bennison and Lena Oberdorf in earning the honour.
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The midfielder has been starring in her native Haiti for a number of years, before making the switch to France in 2021 as she looked to begin her professional career.
Dumornay has shone thus far for Reims, and is fully expected to establish herself at the highest level sooner rather than later.
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She beat Australia international Mary Fowler, who plays her club football for Montpellier, into second place, while Maltese sensation Haley Bugeja finished third as she continues to impress for Sassuolo.
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United States Under-20s star Alexis Missimo claimed fourth, while Bayer Leverkusen can boast a player in the top five of both lists after Lisanne Grawe took fifth.
The full women’s.
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