Pedri wins another award by taking Kopa Trophy

What a 2021 this is for Pedri. He may be out injured right now, but the Canary Islander is keeping himself busy collecting trophies. After being named in the Best XI of the European Championship, winning silver at the Tokyo Olympics, and being named Golden Boy by Tuttosport, Pedro González López has collected the Kopa Trophy for the world’s best player under the age of 21.

Big name admirers

The winner of this very special award is picked by the 33 previous winners of the Ballon d’Or that are still alive, including the likes of Messi, Ronaldinho, Beckenbauer and Rivaldo.

In a truly fabulous year, the youngster has won over the hearts of the footballing community worldwide for his talent, effort, teamwork and humility that has seen him go in one season from an unknown debutant at senior level to being one of the team’s most important players and also becoming a major part of the Spanish national squad.

A 2021 to remember

It has been a truly meteoric rise for Pedri since making his debut on 27 September 2020 against Villarreal. With 52 appearances last season, he was the most used player in the Barça squad, and with his games for Spain added to that, his 73 games were more than any other senior player last term.

France Football has been awarding the Kopa Trophy since 2018, and it’s only previous winners to date have been Kylian Mbappé and Matthijs de Ligt. This year, Pedri had to beat the likes of Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Mason Greenwood to win the vote, and did so by a stunningly wide margin.