There is always much debate around these kinds of topics due to the accuracy or lack of of birth certificates in some countries, and it’s hard to say definitively what level of football you need to play at for it to count.
However, we’ve attempted to compile a list of footballers who’ve represented their clubs or countries at strikingly young ages, with their career trajectories thereafter being largely mixed. One thing we can say for certain is that Christopher Atherton has now become the youngest footballer to play at senior level in the UK after his appearance for Northern Irish club Glenavon last night.
Having played at such a high level at only 13 will mean his progress will be closely watched from here, having broken a record which stood in the UK for more than 40 years.
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Eric Godpower Marshall is believed to have become the youngest player to compete in a men’s senior game this year, when he took part in 80 minutes of FC Gar'ou’s 4-1 win over FC Haifa in Liberia’s fourth division. While admittedly not the highest standard of the game, a tweet from the club of Marshall’s personal highlights suggests that he acquitted himself well against much larger opponents.
Mauricio Baldivieso long held the crown of the youngest footballer in the world until Marshall came along, having taken part in a Bolivian league game for Club Aurora against La Paz at the age of just 12. However, it must be said that Baldivieso’s father was his manager at the time, and he only came on as a substitute late in a game that proved to be his only appearance for two years.
Axel Kei has taken Freddy Adu’s crown as the
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