If you have been watching the World Cup this summer, you have likely spotted Spain’s 19-year-old superstar Lamine Yamal dominating the pitch and commanding the global stage as the youngest player on his team. But if you’re wondering how he became a soccer superstar at such a young age, we’ll tell you everything you need to know.
Born on July 13, 2007, in Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain, Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana’s soccer story was practically written in the stars. He grew up in a working-class family in the Rocafonda neighborhood of Mataró. His Moroccan father, Mounir Nasraoui, and his Equatoguinean mother, Sheila Ebana, had Yamal when they were teenagers.
His parents could not offer him much financially. In fact, according to The Athletic, Yamal once stated that there were times his dad “had to go out and look for a life, sometimes picking up stuff in the streets to try to come back home with food for us.” Still, they gave him a passion for the game that would take him remarkably far.
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When Yamal was just 5 months old, he and his mother met one of soccer’s greatest names, Lionel Messi, after winning a raffle hosted by their local newspaper, Diario Sport, and UNICEF for a spot in a charity calendar photoshoot. Little did Messi know that the baby in the picture would one day become a fierce opponent.
Lionel Messi with Lamine Yamal as a baby back in December 2007, from Spanish newspaper @sport.
It was a photoshoot organised for a charity calendar. pic.twitter.com/C7jCKbYnp7
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) July 5, 2024
By age 7, Yamal was playing for his local club, CF La Torreta, when he was scouted by FC Barcelona, the legendary Spanish club where Messi spent more than two decades. According to the club’s website, Yamal was an immediate prodigy in Barcelona. In 2023, at just 15 years old, he reached the senior level and became the youngest player to represent the club, helping secure a 4-0 win against Real Betis in his first game.
While Yamal was already making headlines in Spain, he became an international superstar at the 2024 UEFA European Championship. At 16, he became the youngest goalscorer in the tournament’s history during a semifinal match against France, according to Fox Sports. That goal helped secure Spain’s place in the final and its eventual tournament victory. Yamal was named the best young player of the tournament.
At 17, he made history again and entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest nominee ever for the Ballon d’Or, the most prestigious individual award in soccer. The award has been won by icons such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and French star Ousmane Dembele.
During the 2026 World Cup, Yamal has continued to build on his spectacular career, scoring Spain’s first goal in a 4-0 victory against Saudi Arabia. With a semifinal rematch against France today, July 14, the soccer star is confident he will keep up his winning streak, reach the final and secure a second World Cup championship for his country since 2010.
If he does, he will become the fourth-youngest player to ever win a World Cup, following in the footsteps of Brazilian icons Pele and Ronaldo and Italian superstar Giuseppe Bergomi.
