Name: Lamine Yamal
Age: 16
Position(s) Winger
Place of birth Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Current team Barcelona
Number 27
On Friday, when 17-year-old Lamine Yamal came off the bench for Barcelona against Georgia, he did two things that have never been done before.
When he came on in the 44th minute, the forward was 16 years and 57 days old, making him Spain’s youngest male player. He beat Gavi, who was 17 years and 62 days old when he made his international start in 2021.
In the 74th minute, the teen’s goal gave Spain a 7-1 Euro 2024 qualifying win, making him the youngest player to score for his country and breaking a record held by his Barcelona friend Gavi.
Yamal played his first full game for Barcelona in August. He was the youngest player to start a La Liga game in the 21st century, and he was named the U23 player of the month for the league.
When he played for Barcelona for the first time in April at the age of 15, he was the club’s youngest player in more than a century.
lvaro Morata scored three goals for Spain, and goals from Dani Olmo, Nico Williams, and an own goal by Solomon Kverkveila helped the Spaniards win by a lot.
Spain is in second place in Group A. They are nine points behind Scotland, who has played two more games than Spain.
Club History
As he moved up through La Masia’s young ranks, Yamal was soon seen as one of the best talents for the school. Yamal was put on the Juvenil A team, which was already too old for him, for the 2022–2023 season. However, Xavi chose him and a few other young players to work with the first team in early September 2022. Even though he hasn’t signed his first deal as a professional player with the club yet, he seemed to be one of the school players who impressed the Catalan coach the most.
Yamal made his first-team debut on April 29, 2023, when he replaced Gavi in the 83rd minute of a 4–0 La Liga win against Real Betis. He took a shot on goal against former Barcelona custodian Claudio Bravo, and at 15 years, 9 months and 16 days old, he was the youngest player to ever play for Barcelona’s first team. He won his first title with Barcelona on May 14, 2023. He was on the team that won the La Liga in 2022–2023. Even so, he would miss the title party the following week because he was on Spain’s foreign team.
Yamal made his first start for the club on August 20, 2023, in a 2-0 win over Cádiz at the Estadi Olmpic Llus Companys. At 16 years and 38 days old, he was the youngest player to start for Barcelona in La Liga. When he was taken off with five minutes left in the game after his first start, the crowd stood up and cheered. Yamal was named man of the match after helping Gavi and Robert Lewandowski score two goals in a 4–3 win over Villarreal on August 28, 2023. This was his next start. At 16 years and 45 days old, he was the youngest player to ever help out in a La Liga game.
International History
Yamal has played for Spain’s U15 and U16 teams and has been on the youth national team.
In 2023, he played for Spain’s U17 team in the 2023 European U17 Championship. During the event, Yamal scored 4 goals. Spain made it all the way to the semi-finals, but France beat them 3–1 and sent them home.
On September 1, 2023, when Yamal was 16 years and 50 days old, coach Luis de la Fuente called him up for the first time as a senior international player. He played against Georgia and Cyprus in qualifiers for the 2024 Euros. Yamal played his first game for Spain as an adult on September 8, 2023, against Georgia. He scored in the 74th minute of a 7–1 win. At 16 years and 57 days old, he became the youngest player and scorer for Spain. He beat both of Gavi’s records, who made his debut at 17 years and 62 days old and scored at 17 years and 304 days old. Yamal also beat Gareth Bale’s record of being the youngest player to score in a Euro qualifying game. Bale scored when he was 17 years and 83 days old.
