With so many talented youngsters set to play in the upcoming Qatar World Cup 2022, fans may wonder who is the youngest footballer to ever play in the world cup tournament, find out below
The FIFA World Cup 2022 is all set to begin in a few weeks in Qatar for the first time in winter.
Top 5 List Of The Youngest Footballer To Play In The FIFA World Cup Tournament And Age
The youngest players in World Cup history:
🇬🇧Norman Whiteside – 17 years 1 month 10 days
🇨🇲Samuel Eto'o – 17 years 3 months 7 days
🇳🇬Femi Opabunmi – 17 years 3 months 9 days
🇨🇲Salomon Olembé – 17 years 6 months 3 days
🇧🇷Pelé – 17 years 7 months 23 days pic.twitter.com/c4K5DN61ak
— Football Talent Scout – Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) November 8, 2022
17th June 1982, @NormanWhiteside proved if your good enough you’re old enough as he breaks a record previously held by Pele becoming at 17 years and 41 days the youngest footballer to play in the World Cup Finals, having played just 2 senior games and having scored 1 goal for Utd pic.twitter.com/zLnCNJ7V2X
— Paul English (@paulenglish1961) June 17, 2022
The youngest players in World Cup history:
🇬🇧Norman Whiteside – 17 years 1 month 10 days
🇨🇲Samuel Eto’o – 17 years 3 months 7 days
🇳🇬Femi Opabunmi – 17 years 3 months 9 days
🇨🇲Salomon Olembé – 17 years 6 months 3 days
🇧🇷Pelé – 17 years 7 months 23 days pic.twitter.com/JwWNu4vqg6— SoccerGator.io (@Soccergator_io) November 8, 2022
The tournament, will feature some of the world’s best young talents like England’s Jude Bellingham, Brazil’s Vinicius Jr, Spain’s Pedri, Germany’s Jamal Musiala and many more.
Some of these select few youngsters besides other will surely bring in electrifying performances for their respective nations.
In all of the previous World Cup tournaments, young talents have always proven to be some of the most exciting players to watch. In recent years, young talents like Kylian Mbappe, Memphis Depay, Michael Owen have displayed their class at World Cup tournaments.
With these in mind, let us look at have a look at who holds the record for being the youngest footballer to ever play at a world cup tournament.
Youngest Footballer To Ever Play At A World Cup Tournament
Norman Whiteside is the youngest player ever to play at a World Cup tournament. Norman, who hails from Northern Ireland, played at a World Cup tournament at just 17 years and 40 days old.
The former professional footballer played for Manchester United and made his World Cup debut against Yugoslavia back in 1982. The match, turned out to be a thrilling game, which ended in a stalemate 0 – 0 following wonderful performances from both teams.
Whiteside played in the game as a starting eleven under manager Billy Bingham, which was quite impressive, as he had previously only played just two competitive games at the club level.
The former Northern Ireland boss strongly believed in the young man’s talent and abilities and he indeed delivered.
Top Five List Of Youngest Footballers To Ever play At The FIFA World Cup Tournaments
Given below are the five youngest players to have ever played at FIFA World Cup tournaments:
- Norman Whiteside from Northern Ireland at just 17 years and 40 days old
- Samuel Eto’o from Cameroon at 17 years and 98 days old
- Femi Opabunmi from Nigeria at 17 years and 100 days old
- Salomon Olembé from Cameroon at 17 years and 184 days old
- Pele from Brazil at 17 years and 234 days old