SCOUTED50: A curated guide to the next generation

Welcome to another annual edition of SCOUTED50. If you're new here, this is our curated list of the breakout talents we're most excited to watch this season. If you're not, well...we're so grateful you came back.

As usual, we've written a separate blog post explaining our process, how the list is curated, who voted, and why your favourite player might be missing. If you can't be bothered with vital context, here are the headlines:

• The list was curated by Llew Davies and Jake Entwistle, our in-house analysts
• Players featured on previous year's lists are not eligible, and only those born during or after 2005 were considered
• The list was put to a large group of our friends, colleagues and peers, who voted for their favourites

I know nuance won't stop people screaming on the internet, but we really would prefer people read our primer if they still have questions. You can do so here:

Your guide to SCOUTED50 2025/26

Explaining our annual list - questions answered, myths busted

SCOUTEDTom Curren

As a final note: this is not meant to be prescriptive or predictive. SCOUTED50 is a curated watchlist, designed to help guide you through another season of breakout talents.

It is the culmination of hundreds of hours of scouting and data analysis by Llew and Jake, and is meant to reflect SCOUTED's vibes and taste. Anyone can slap together a list of the fifty best talents in the world; we're quite confident nobody else could curate a list quite like this.

Developing SCOUTED's vibes is only possible because we're real human beings doing real, independent work. We are not bankrolled by anyone and we don't use generative AI for our creative endeavours. Our words and graphics are written and designed by hand, our players watched with eyes, our datapoints sifted by the colossal power of Jake's big brain. We only survive, clinging on by the skin of our teeth, because readers support us. We need much more help to know we'll be able to keep this going another year.

Now is the perfect time to grab an annual subscription. You'll unlock SCOUTED50, an entire season of coverage from the team, and more new players than you'll know what to do with. We want SCOUTED to be your ultimate companion to 2025/26. This is the best place to start.

Alright?

Without further ado: we're very proud to present SCOUTED50 2025/26.

"The combination of data analysis, scouting analysis, plus long form writing makes SCOUTED one of the first things I read every day."

- Jerome S, SCOUTED Subscriber

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