The winners list of the Best Young Player award. This FIFA World Cup Award is given to the best player in the tournament who is 21 years old or younger. The age is calculated at the start of the calendar year, so players born in 2001 or later are eligible in 2022.

The best young player award was first officially awarded at the 2006 World Cup. The table below lists the winners for the tournaments from 1958, taken from a survey conducted by FIFA to choose the "best young player" of the World Cup for the tournaments from 1958 to 2002.

Year Best Young Player Country Age (years)
2022 Enzo Fernandez Argentina 21
2018 Kylian Mbappé France 19
2014 Paul Pogba France 21
2010 Thomas Müller Germany 20
2006 Lukas Podolski Germany 21
2002 Landon Donovan USA 20
1998 Michael Owen England 18
1994 Marc Overmars Netherlands 20
1990 Robert Prosinečki Yugoslavia 21
1986 Enzo Scifo Belgium 20
1982 Manuel Amoros France 21
1978 Antonio Cabrini Italy 20
1974 Władysław Żmuda Poland 20
1970 Teófilo Cubillas Peru 21
1966 Franz Beckenbauer West Germany 20
1962 Flórián Albert Hungary 20
1958 Pelé Brazil 17