Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal and Arsenal star Declan Rice headline list of nominees for 2025 Puskas Award

Yamal earned his nomination for a stunning left-footed curler against Espanyol. It was a moment of individual brilliance that effectively clinched the league title for Barcelona. Cutting in from the right, he opened his body and sent the ball spinning into the far top corner, a finish dripping with maturity well beyond his teenage years.

Whereas, Rice stunned the Champions League with one of the most audacious free kicks in recent memory. His nomination came for the second of his two spectacular dead-ball strikes against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. From a seemingly impossible angle, Rice trusted his capabilities and whipped an outrageous shot into the top corner to give Arsenal a famous 3–0 first-leg win.

"To score my first free kick in a game is a special one. And then when I got the second one. I just had the confidence. I'm speechless, really," Rice told Amazon Prime after the Real Madrid game in April.

"When you score a goal, it's the best feeling in the world. It didn't make sense from that angle to cross the ball. It would have to be a delicate pass. And when I saw the wall, it didn't make sense to cross. You know what, I'm happy I took it because it was magic."

The Puskas Award, introduced in 2009, has become one of the most cherished individual honours in world football. Cristiano Ronaldo’s thunderbolt for Manchester United against Porto in the Champions League remains one of the most astonishing long-range strikes in European history. From nearly 40 yards out, he unleashed a missile into the top corner, and that was the first Puskas winner.

In 2011, a 19-year-old Neymar announced himself to the world with a goal that seemed sculpted from a video game. Picking up the ball near the halfway line for Santos, he slalomed past four defenders before putting up a composed finish. And the Puskas Award was almost inevitable.

The Egyptian King, Mohamed Salah, took home the prize for his solo run against Everton in the Merseyside derby. Salah dribbled inside from the right, held off defenders with brute strength, then bent an unstoppable curler into the far corner. It was a quintessential Salah finish, and the Puskas Award was his in 2018.

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