Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has been voted 8th in the Ballon d’Or Kopa trophy rankings after missing out to Barcelona talent Gavi.
The Ballon d’Or award ceremony sees seven trophies awarded including the Kopa Trophy for best performing player under the age of 21-years-old. Saka was nominated for the award alongside England teammate Jude Bellingham and other highly-rated talents across Europe.
France Football has been awarding the Kopa Trophy since 2018 with previous winners including the likes of Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe, Matthijs de Ligt and Pedri. The Gunners forward was nominated for the same award last year but missed out to Barcelona talent Pedri, who is absent from this year’s list of nominations after struggling with injury throughout the 2021/22 season.
Bellingham was tipped as the favourite to win the award after another impressive 12 months in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund in which he registered 20 goal contributions in 44 appearances across all competitions, as well as captaining the German side in recent matches.
Saka enjoyed a particularly impressive campaign as he scored 12 goals and provided a further seven assists, but his contributions were not enough to help Arsenal qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
Elsewhere, Tottenham stars Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were voted 21st and 11th respectively in the rankings for the main Ballon d’Or award. Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo finished in a disappointing 20th place, his joint-lowest ranking for the award.
