Lamine Yamal broke a record that stood for 66 years when he started for Spain in the Euro 2024 final against England on Sunday.
A day after celebrating his 17th birthday, the youngster was named in the starting XI as La Roja and England went head-to-head in the Euro 2024 final. He is now the youngest player ever to play in a major international final, breaking a record set by Pele in the 1958 World Cup final.
It is not the first record that the Barcelona youngster has broken since the European Championship began. He became youngest the player ever to start in a European Championship match when he played against Croatia in his team’s opening game. He followed that up with becoming the youngest ever scorer in the competition’s history when he struck in the semi-final win against France.
Amazingly, Yamal may not have been allowed to keep playing had the final against England go to extra time as German law prevents anyone under the age of 18 from working beyond 11pm. Spain would have been facing a fine if they’d ignored that rule, but they didn’t have to worry in the end, beating England 2-1 in normal time thanks to goals from Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal.
Yamal is also now the youngest ever player to win the European Championship after helping Luis de la Fuente’s men overpower Gareth Southgate’s England.
