Trophy
An In-Depth Look at the 2025 Kopa Trophy Nominees
Profiling the promising 2025 Kopa Trophy nominees marking their rise in European football.
The nominees for the 2025 Kopa Trophy have been revealed ahead of the prestigious Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris this September. Among these young talents, one will claim the accolade previously won by stars such as Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, and Pedri. This year, one candidate aims to make history by becoming the first to win the prize twice.
Seventeen-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi has stepped into the spotlight with Lille, making 36 appearances in all competitions during the 2024–25 season, including nine in the Champions League. His composure and defensive skills have earned him recognition as a promising future star, even if he is not yet a frontrunner for the Kopa Trophy.
Rodrigo Mora, an 18-year-old attacking midfielder, made a striking impression at Porto last season with 11 goals and four assists across 35 appearances. Known for his technical skill and creativity, Mora is likely to develop further at Porto before potentially challenging for the award in the future.
Brazilian winger Estêvão impressed during his breakthrough at Palmeiras, registering 17 goal contributions before officially joining Chelsea in 2024. His performances at the FIFA Club World Cup showcased glimpses of the talent expected at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal’s Myles Lewis Skelly has been pivotal in resolving the club’s left back concerns. Originally a midfielder, Lewis Skelly has thrived in defense, using his ability to invert and step into midfield to break opposing presses. With three senior England caps and a goal, his potential is vast.
Kenan Yıldız, a forward with 84 appearances for Juventus by age 20, has boosted his goal tally significantly and impressed for Turkey at the European Championship. Despite his talents, several peers are currently seen as stronger contenders.
Dean Huijsen, a central defender who left Juventus for Bournemouth, quickly established himself as a dominant force in the Premier League, earning a nomination for Young Player of the Season and securing a transfer to Real Madrid, who recognized his calibre.
Pau Cubarsí’s rise at Barcelona has been remarkable, featuring in 56 matches during 2024–25 and leading the club to a domestic treble through his defensive prowess and composure at just 18 years old.
Paris Saint-Germain’s João Neves, part of a formidable midfield trio, impressed in his debut season with 17 goal contributions, demonstrating extraordinary technical ability and tactical intelligence.
Finally, Désiré Doué made a memorable impact in the 2024–25 Champions League final with two goals and an assist. He has since displaced Bradley Barcola in PSG’s lineup, earning nominations for both the Ballon d’Or and Kopa Trophy, although the former is less likely.
Liverpool
Mohamed Salah: The Moments That Defined a Liverpool Career
An assessment of Mohamed Salah’s defining Liverpool moments: goals, finals and unshakeable legacy..
Tears will be shed when Mohamed Salah bids farewell to Liverpool supporters, but what endures are the moments that reshaped the club during his time on Merseyside. Few players have delivered such a sequence of decisive strikes, finals contributions and unforgettable derby goals.
Salah’s introduction at Anfield produced a staggering return — a 44-goal campaign that silenced critics who labelled him a ‘one-season wonder’. That debut season contained one of his most celebrated efforts: a solo run and finish in the Merseyside derby in December 2017 that later earned the FIFA Puskás Award.
Liverpool’s run to the Champions League final in 2018 showcased Salah at full tilt until the final itself in Kyiv. En route he produced a match-winning equalizer at the Etihad Stadium to turn the tie against Manchester City, and a commanding display against Roma in the Anfield semifinal first leg underlined his influence across Europe.
The 2018–19 season brought both near-miss and redemption. Liverpool finished second in the Premier League with 97 points, and Salah produced one of his signature long-range strikes against Chelsea late in that campaign. European solace arrived in Madrid as Liverpool defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 in the Champions League final. Salah’s composed early penalty set Liverpool on their way. For the first and only time in his career, Salah was a European champion.
Salah’s repertoire of solo goals continued to astound. In October 2021 he weaved past multiple defenders before rifling a low finish past Ederson from a tight angle on his right foot. A trip to Old Trafford delivered another landmark: Salah became the first visiting player to score a Premier League hat trick at Old Trafford in a 5–0 victory, one of several dominant displays against Manchester United including a 7–0 win at Anfield the following season.
When Arne Slot replaced Jürgen Klopp there was understandable uncertainty, but Salah answered any questions on the field. In 2024–25 he produced the best season of his career, maintaining the attacking numbers and moments of brilliance that defined his Liverpool legacy.
Arsenal
How Close Are Arsenal to Football’s True Quadruple?
Arsenal are well positioned across four competitions; a genuine quadruple remains exceptionally rare.
The concept of a true quadruple in football is narrowly defined and, by that measure, exceptionally rare. To qualify a campaign must deliver a club’s top continental trophy, the domestic league, the primary domestic cup and the secondary domestic cup in the same season. In England that would mean winning the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and EFL Cup. One-off honours such as the Community Shield or Supercopa de España are excluded, as are tournaments like the FIFA Club World Cup and secondary continental competitions including the Europa League and Europa Conference League.
Arsenal’s season has produced significant progress across those four competitions. In the Champions League, Mikel Arteta’s side have already booked their place in the last 16, finishing first in their league phase after winning all eight matches. Domestically, Arsenal remain alive in the FA Cup while also reaching the EFL Cup final after seeing off Chelsea 4–2 on aggregate in the semifinals.
Those results leave Arsenal well positioned, but history underlines how difficult the task remains. Only one European team has ever completed the strict quadruple: Celtic in 1966–67, when Jock Stein’s Lisbon Lions won the European Cup, Scottish First Division, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup, their European campaign capped by a 2–1 victory over Inter Milan in the European Cup final at Lisbon’s Estádio Nacional. Outside Europe, Santos in 1962, led by Pelé, completed a recognised quadruple with the Campeonato Paulista, Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup.
There are many examples of clubs winning four or more trophies in a season without meeting the strict definition. Paris Saint-Germain secured domestic trebles in 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18 and 2019–20 and added the Trophée des Champions in those years. When PSG won the Champions League in 2024–25 they also won Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France, but the Coupe de la Ligue had already been scrapped. Clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Porto, and teams in South America and Asia including River Plate, São Paulo, Peñarol, Al-Muharraq and Al-Wehdat, have enjoyed trophy-laden seasons that still fell short of a true quadruple.
Napoli
Højlund’s Napoli Move Vindicated After Supercoppa Success
Højlund celebrates Supercoppa win at Napoli and defends his summer move with pointed Instagram post.
Rasmus Højlund has used a Supercoppa triumph to underline the decision that took him out of England and back to Italy. After posting a picture of himself holding the trophy, he wrote: “What a great decision looks like.” Many supporters read the message as a deliberate barb aimed at his former club.
The sequence that led here was public. Højlund had an encouraging debut season at Old Trafford, scoring 16 goals, but he struggled for form last term and saw his confidence ebb. United’s investment in Benjamin Šeško ended Højlund’s time there, despite his initial wish to stay.
Napoli paid the equivalent of €50 million for the 22-year-old, a figure below the €75 million plus add-ons United had paid to Atalanta in 2023. While that represents a loss on the original outlay, it still delivered a significant transfer fee and cleared the way for both player and club to move on.
On the pitch, Højlund has found a sharper rhythm in Serie A. He has scored four league goals in 11 appearances, matching his Premier League return from 2025–26 in 21 fewer games. Across all competitions he has seven in 19, including a goal in the Supercoppa semifinal against AC Milan. Napoli completed the competition by beating Bologna at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the trophy is the third of his career.
Observers argue Højlund looks better suited to Italian football and has often shown stronger returns in European competition than he did in the Premier League. Manchester United, meanwhile, have boosted their attacking output after bringing in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
At Napoli he has been reunited with former United teammate Scott McTominay, the reigning Serie A Footballer of the Year. Asked if leaving Old Trafford automatically improves a player, McTominay declined to denigrate his boyhood club. “It’s just too easy of an excuse,” he told CBS Sports last week. “In my last year [at United], I did well. I scored 10 goals and we won [the FA Cup].” On Marcus Rashford and last season he added, “With Marcus, there was different issues which might have transpired which we won’t go into. However, Marcus is a top player and has always been a top player, he’s one of the club legends, scored so many goals for Man Utd, did so many great things,”
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