At a lavish event held at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France, Barcelona midfielder Pablo Martín Páez Gaviria Gavi was awarded the Kopa Trophy.
Since its inception in 2018, players including Kylian Mbappe, Matthijs de Ligt, and Pedri have taken home the Kopa Trophy, which is given to the best-performing player under the age of 21.
After Pedri, who won in 2021, he is the second player from Spain and Barcelona to get this prestigious award. The other recipients of the prize are Matthijs de Ligt of Bayern Munich and Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain, both from France and the Netherlands, respectively.
In a competition in Paris, the midfielder most compared to Iniesta in his heyday at Barcelona won it ahead of Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham.
The Spain international said after accepting the award from teammate Pedri: “It’s an honour to win this trophy and to all the individuals who have been there in the good and terrible times. I want to thank everyone who contributed to my winning this honour.
The young midfielder, after the award received in Paris, made it known whether he is a Xavi or Andres Iniesta calibre player, he stated, “I’m not too fixated on Xavi and Iniesta, I’m focused on what I can do.”
The Kopa Trophy winner spoke to the press at Camp Nou before their La Liga match with Athletic Club on Sunday, October 23, 2022, and he stated how Gavi has been his favourite identity throughout his playing career.
He clarified why he had been called Gavi in Barcelona and provided an explanation, “Why do people call me Gavi? People think it’s because of my full name ‘Pablo Martín Paez Gaviria’. But that’s not true, with my first team, we were two players with the name Pablo, and to avoid the similarity, the coach called me Gavi.”
