Vicky Lopez beats Michelle Agyemang to Women’s Best Youth Player award | OneFootball

Barcelona star Vicky Lopez has been named the Women’s World Best Youth Player for the second year in a row.

Vicky Lopez wins IFFHS Best Youth Player award

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has crowned the 19-year-old as the best U20 player in the world by a comfortable margin.

Voted for by an international jury of journalists and football experts, Lopez took 174 points, 69 points more than second-placed Linda Caicedo of Real Madrid.

Last year, Lopez took the award by just 11 points, again from Colombian international Caicedo.

Michelle Agyemang, who recently was nominated for the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year, finished third with 51 points.

Chelsea’s Wieke Kaptein, who finished third in the Kopa Trophy rankings at the Ballon d’Or awards behind Lopez and Caicedo, took fifth in the IFFHS rankings with 24 points.

Splitting Agyemang and Kaptein was Bayern Munich midfielder Momoko Tanikawa.

Full Youth Player award rankings

How Lopez won the Best Youth Player award

Lopez has enjoyed an excellent 2025 playing for one of the best teams in world football.

During the 2024-25 campaign, the teenager scored 11 goals in 37 appearances for Barcelona.

She has made an excellent start to the 2025-26 season also, scoring seven goals and providing six assists in 19 appearances.

Lopez was included in Spain’s Euro 2025 squad and came off the bench during their final defeat to England.

Her nearest challengers for the award were Caicedo and Agyemang. Caicedo has become a vital part of the Real Madrid team while Agyemang made her mark off the bench for England during Euro 2025.

Agyemang ruptured her ACL on England duty in October and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Barcelona dominate awards

Barcelona won three of the main four awards given out by the IFFHS.

Lamine Yamal won the Men’s World Best Youth Player award while former Barcelona and current Paris Saint-Germain star Ousmane Dembele won the World’s Best Player award.

Aitana Bonmati, after winning her third straight Ballon d’Or, has repeated the feat in the IFFHS awards by again being crowned the Women’s Best Player.

Bonmati recently broke her leg on Spain duty and is out of action for five months, making it unlikely that she will be able to win the award for a fourth straight year in 2026.