Back-to-back Laureus honours before the age of 19. Lamine Yamal has just won the 2026 World Young Sportsperson of the Year Award, and honestly, who was stopping him?
Twelve months ago he picked up the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year. Now he's graduated to the main youth prize. That's not a coincidence — that's a player who didn't let his first major award become a ceiling.
What 2025 actually looked like
The raw numbers from last season: 18 goals, 25 assists across the campaign, helping Barcelona to La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup. Three trophies. At 17. Those figures would be impressive for a player in his prime years — they're extraordinary for someone who still isn't old enough to vote in most countries.
He finished second in the Ballon d'Or behind Ousmane Dembele, which tells you two things: Dembele had a genuinely historic year, and Yamal was right there with him. He also claimed Best Forward at the Globe Soccer Awards 2025, meaning this Laureus win completes a clean sweep of youth and positional recognition for the season.
The question now is how long he stays in the "young" category before the conversation just becomes about the best players in the world, full stop. At his current trajectory, that moment isn't far off. Any futures market placing him outside the top contenders for the 2026 Ballon d'Or is already looking shaky.
Barcelona's most important asset, certified
For Barça, this matters beyond the ceremony. Yamal's recognition cements the club's identity around him — their attacking play, their transfer strategy, their marketability all increasingly orbit this one teenager. When your 18-year-old is winning global sports awards and not just football ones, you're dealing with something genuinely rare.
He was named the Best Forward in the Globe Soccer Award 2025. He finished runner-up in the Ballon d'Or. He's now a two-time Laureus honouree. The awards are just confirming what the matches already showed.
