Pau Cubarsi Becomes First-Ever Defender to Win FIFA Young Player Award

Pau Cubarsi made history at the World Cup final whistle. The 19-year-old Spain defender won the FIFA Young Player Award, becoming the first defender to ever take home the prize.

Cubarsi started every single one of Spain's eight matches at the back. He helped the team keep seven clean sheets and concede just once all tournament, the tightest defensive record by any champion in World Cup history. That reliability at the back, more than any single moment, is what won him the award.

The FIFA Young Player Award goes to the best performer aged 21 or under. It has picked out future superstars before. Kylian Mbappe won it in 2018, Paul Pogba in 2014, and Thomas Muller back in 2010. Cubarsi now joins that list, along with Argentina's Enzo Fernandez, who won it in 2022.

He also joins a much smaller club. Cubarsi is only the fifth teenager in World Cup history to win the tournament itself. Coming through Barcelona's academy and into the first team as a teenager, he has already made a habit of skipping steps most defenders take years to reach.

For Spain, the award capped a tournament where their youngest players carried as much weight as their most experienced ones. Cubarsi's calm at the back gave the rest of the team room to attack, and FIFA's judges clearly noticed.