16 Facts to Know Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old Spanish Superstar
The ongoing Euro Cup 2024 has been filled with exciting moments, surprising results, and an overall display of world-class talent. After nearly a month of matches, the final has been decided, as Spain will face off against England to determine a new European champion. While the Lions have had a couple of close calls, La Roja has kept a steady pace that can be partly credited to Lamine Yamal, the team’s newest secret weapon. At only 16 years old, he’s already achieved some impressive records, which make him one to watch. To help you get to know him better, we’ve gathered 16 facts about him.
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He was born in 2007. At 16 years and 338 days old, he became the youngest player to debut in a Euro Cup.
During his first appearances at the Euro he only gave assists, but by scoring the goal that would eventually lead Spain to the finals, he also became the youngest player to score in the tournament’s history, at 16 years and 361 years old.
In addition to his record-breaking appearances, his debut with Spain’s national team made him the youngest player to ever represent the country at a senior level.
He was born and raised in Cataluña, Barcelona in the Rocafonda neighborhood, one of the poorest areas in the country. As a nod to his homeplace, his characteristic celebration move is lifting his fingers in a 3-0-4 sign to represent the last three digits of his postal code.
5. While he plays for Spain, his birth country, he was also eligible to play for Equatorial Guinea’s and Morocco’s national teams, his parents' respective countries of origin.
6. Before helping Spain’s national team reach the Euro’s final, he was a part of the team that competed in the U17 European Championship, where he was the tournament’s top scorer.
7. Besides the national team, he also plays for Futbol Club Barcelona, one of the biggest clubs in the world.
8. Similar to his record-breaking appearance with La Roja, he also broke the record at FC Barcelona by becoming the youngest debutant in the club at only 15 years, nine months, and 15 days old.
9. While his official professional debut was in 2023, he has been a part of the club since 2014, when he was scouted to join La Masia, Barcelona’s youth academy that has seen players like Messi, Piqué, Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Puyol, among others, start off their careers.
10. Growing up as a player in the same training camp as Messi isn’t their only connection. When Yamal was a baby, he won a raffle to appear in a FC Barcelona charity calendar, and he was coincidentally paired up with a young Messi, who was only getting started in his career, to appear in the pictures together. Is there a slight chance Messi had a Midas’ touch effect on that baby’s football future?
Joan Monfort
11. It might be possible. Thanks to his incredible dribbling skills, vision, and creativity on the field, Xavi Hernández, Barcelona’s current coach and former teammate of the superstar, has compared him to Messi.
12.While his Instagram is more reserved to videos and pictures about his matches, he shares a more personal side on TikTok, posting private moments celebrating his friends or even getting into hotel shenanigans with his teammates, as any other teenager would.
13. Even though he plays at one of the biggest clubs in the world, he’s still attending school through private lessons, setting a strong example to young aspiring athletes everywhere.
14. He will be added to FIFA 2024’s (the video game) database later this summer when he finally turns 17, as the game has an age restriction to be eligible for inclusion.
15. He will turn 17 on July 13th, one day before his team is scheduled to play the Euro Cup final.
16. While he admires Messi, and the comparisons between them have been constant, he has said that Neymar Jr. is the player he enjoyed watching the most when growing up.
There is no doubt he has a great future ahead of him if there’s already talk of comparisons between him and the GOAT at such a young age, so football fans around the world can be excited knowing there is a new young promise to look out for and enjoy on the pitch. In the meantime, we cannot wait to see how this tournament ends after such exciting games in the past few weeks.