Lamine Yamal collected his third Kopa Trophy on Monday evening in London, then handed the moment to someone else.

Called up for the first award of the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony, the 19-year-old thanked his club and his national team before turning the microphone toward a teammate who was not there.

“I wish Cubarsi, my teammate, were here. This award should have been for him. I wish he had won it,” Yamal said on stage.

The win made him the first player to claim the Kopa Trophy three years in a row. The prize, handed out annually by France Football to the best player under 21 in men’s football, had already gone to Yamal in 2024 and 2025 before he completed the hat-trick on Monday.

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Cubarsi conceded one goal all World Cup

Pau Cubarsi, Yamal’s teammate at both Barcelona and Spain, was one of the main contenders for the trophy on Monday.

The 19-year-old center-back played every minute of Spain’s run to the 2026 World Cup title, partnering Aymeric Laporte in a defense that conceded only one goal across the whole tournament.

He completed 449 of his 466 attempted passes for a 96% accuracy, logged 23 successful defensive actions and 19 ball recoveries, and anchored a back line that recorded five straight clean sheets on the way to the final.

FIFA named Cubarsi the tournament’s Young Player, and at 19 years, five months and 27 days he became the youngest center-back ever to lift a men’s World Cup.

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Twenty-four goals and a World Cup title

Yamal’s own season gave voters plenty to work with. He scored 24 goals for Barcelona in 2025/26, 16 of them in La Liga alongside 12 assists, and was voted La Liga Player of the Season.

With Spain, he started every match of the World Cup. The campaign ended with a 1-0 win over Argentina in the final in July, which also made him the youngest player to lift both the European Championship and the World Cup.

Alongside the two national-team trophies, Yamal’s year brought La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup at club level.

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