Kopa Trophy: Pulisic takes second behind Mbappe in voting for new award

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Dec 3, 2018

While Luka Modric won the 63rd Men's Ballon d'Or and Ada Hegerberg captured the first Women's Ballon d'Or, a third award was presented at Monday's ceremonies at the Grand Palais.

Great honor to be named Runner Up in the #kopatrophy. Would like to thank my teammates and all the fans. Couldn’t have done it without you. pic.twitter.com/3Nu8EllfNb

— Christian Pulisic (@cpulisic_10) December 3, 2018

Frenchman Kylian Mbappe was the unanimous winner of the Kopa Trophy, named after the late Raymond Kopa, the first French winner of the Ballon d'Or and presented to the best U-21 men's player in the world.

Second place went to 20-year-old American Christian Pulisic, who is in his fourth season at German club Borussia Dortmund.

The voting was done by former Ballon d'Or winners, 22 players in all. Pulisic received 10 second-place votes -- including those from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi -- and one third-place vote for 31 votes.

2018 Kopa Trophy voting:
1. Kylian Mbappe (110 points)
2. Christian Pulisic (31)
3. Justin Kluivert (18)
4. Rodrygo (13)
4. Gianluigi Donnarumma (12)
6. Trent Alexander-Arnold (6)
7. Patrick Cutrone (5)
8. Houssem Aouar (4)
9. Ritsu Doan (0)
9. Amadou Haidara (0)