Bellingham wins Golden Boy 2023, Haaland surpasses Lionel Messi

Midfielder Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) and striker Erling Haaland (Manchester City) were officially awarded prestigious individual awards at the Golden Boy gala in Turin, Italy.

Bellingham was awarded the Golden Boy award, honouring the most impressive young player of the calendar year, with a landslide victory.

Bellingham received 45 of the 50 votes in first place, with the remaining five placing him in second place. This gave the Englishman a total of 485 points out of a possible 500, or 97%.

In addition to the journalist vote, Bellingham also won a fan vote on the website.

With this victory, midfielder Bellingham also became the first Real Madrid player to receive the award from Tuttosport.

Previously, at the Golden Ball award ceremony, Jude Bellingham also won the Best Young Player award, also known as the Kopa Trophy.

This is a worthy reward for the English star after his impressive performance for Real Madrid since moving from Dortmund in the summer transfer window of 2023.

Bellingham has scored 15 goals in all competitions so far this season and has broken Cristiano Ronaldo's record for most goals scored in his first 15 games for Real Madrid.

“I’m grateful to everyone I’ve met along the way who helped me get to where I am,” Bellingham said. “I think Wayne Rooney was probably the biggest influence on me growing up. I learned from the way he played, the way he fought, but there were so many other players I learned from as well.”

“I am really grateful for everything football has given me so far in my life and the support from my family to keep playing and keep enjoying,” the 20-year-old added.

Meanwhile, striker Erling Haaland beat Lionel Messi and other rivals to win the Golden Man award after an impressive performance in his first season with Manchester City.

The Norwegian striker has scored 52 goals in 53 games for Manchester City, including the most goals scored in a single Premier League season.

Haaland's impressive achievements greatly helped Manchester City win a historic "treble" last season with the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles.

Also at the ceremony, Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati was awarded the Women's Player of the Year award.

Previously, the Spanish midfielder was also honored with the 2023 Women's Golden Ball award after having an extremely successful season with Barcelona and the Spanish National Team.

The 25-year-old star helped Barcelona Women win the "treble" of Liga F, Women's Champions League and Spanish Super Cup. At the national team level, Aitana Bonmati helped the Spanish Women's Team win the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.