Pau Cubarsí, best young player of the 2026 World Cup: a 19-year-old centre-back with nerves of steel
Pau Cubarsí has been named best young player of the 2026 World Cup. The Barcelona centre-back, just 19, started in the defence of champions Spain and produced a tournament of maturity beyond his years, unfazed by any stage, not even the final. The confirmation of one of European football's brightest prospects.
At 19, most footballers are fighting for a place in the first team. Pau Cubarsí has just been named best young player of a World Cup his country won. The Barcelona centre-back was one of the tournament's great revelations and a fixture in the championship's most solid defence, that of a Spain side that conceded just one goal in eight matches.
The most striking thing about Cubarsí is not his talent —long taken for granted— but his composure. He played World Cup quarters, semis and a final with the ease of a veteran, reading games, playing the ball out from the back and covering through anticipation rather than desperate tackles. Nothing seemed too big for him, not even the MetLife Stadium against Argentina.
Alongside Aymeric Laporte he formed a centre-back pairing that blended experience and youth, and that was the base on which Unai Simón built his Golden Glove. For a 19-year-old to be an undisputed starter in the world champions says a lot about him and about Luis de la Fuente's judgement in trusting him with such a sensitive role.
The best young player award confirms Cubarsí as one of European football's great projects and a pillar of the national team's future. If this was his first big tournament, it is hard to imagine how far he can go. See his profile and the stats of the World Cup's best defence on our site.