Canada’s Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David have been recognized as being among the best young players in Europe.
Davies, 19, and David, 20, were shortlisted for the prestigious Golden Boy award Thursday alongside 18 other young players from across European club soccer.
Nominated players must be under the age of 21 and play in a European top tier league.
The Golden Boy award was established by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport in 2003 when Dutch star Rafael van der Vaart won the inaugural award.
Davies is coming off a sensational 2019-20 campaign in which the Edmonton native cracked Bayern Munich’s starting 11, helped the Bavarian club win a historic treble (Bundesliga, the German Cup and UEFA Champions League) and established himself as one of the best left fullbacks in the world.
David, from Ottawa, starred for Gent last season by finishing tied for top spot in the Belgian league’s scoring trace with 18 goals. He also scored five times in the UEFA Europa league before securing a high-profile transfer to French club Lille this past summer.
Former winners of the Golden Boy award include Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Mario Balotelli, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe.
Portuguese star João Félix (Benfica and Atlético Madrid) took home the honour last year.
The winner of the award, selected by European soccer journalists, is usually revealed in December, but no official date for this year’s announcement has been confirmed.
Golden Boy 2020 final shortlist ?
?? Bakker
?? Camavinga
?? David
?? Davies
?? Dest
?? Fabio Silva
?? Ansu Fati
??????? Foden
?? Gravenberch
??????? Greenwood
?? Haaland
??????? Hudson-Odoi
?? Kulusevski
?? Rodrygo
??????? Saka
??????? Sancho
?? Szoboszlai
?? Tonali
?? Ferran Torres
?? Vinícius#UCL pic.twitter.com/5KKEnl8VLi— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 15, 2020