Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Lamine Yamal has etched his name into football history as the first player under the age of 20 to win both the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup. The Barcelona forward, who inspired Spain to victory at UEFA Euro 2024 as a 17-year-old, completed the remarkable international double after La Roja defeated Argentina 1-0 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, July 19, 2026.
According to FIFA, Yamal, at just 19 years old, is the youngest player to achieve the feat, underlining his meteoric rise as one of world football's biggest stars. He played a pivotal role throughout Spain's victorious World Cup campaign, contributing with crucial goals, assists and creative displays as Luis de la Fuente's side lifted the trophy for the second time in the nation's history, 16 years after their maiden triumph in South Africa in 2010.
Yamal's success comes just two years after he dazzled at Euro 2024, where he became the youngest player ever to feature, score and provide an assist in the history of the European Championship. He also won the Young Player of the Tournament award after helping Spain defeat England 2-1 in the final in Berlin. At just 19 years and six days old, Yamal is the youngest player to win both the European Championship and the World Cup.
In the World Cup final, Yamal played the full 120 minutes, shrugging off Argentina's attempts to intimidate him. After the final whistle, he embraced a tearful Lionel Messi in a moment that symbolised a passing of the torch. The embrace revived memories of the famous 2007 charity calendar photograph showing a 20-year-old Messi bathing a six-month-old Yamal.
Yamal finished the World Cup with four assists, a joint-record, and his lone goal—an audacious, bending effort from long range which crashed in off the post in the semifinal against France—was declared the goal of the tournament. He has started 13 games at major tournaments for Spain and won all of them, the longest 100% win rate of any European player across major tournaments when starting.
Yamal also became one of the youngest players ever to win the World Cup, sharing the spot as the joint fourth-youngest champion with Brazil's Coutinho, who was also 19 years and six days old when Brazil won the 1962 tournament. Only Pelé (17 years, 249 days), Ronaldo Nazário (17 years, 298 days) and Italy's Giuseppe Bergomi (18 years, 174 days) won the trophy at a younger age.
His latest achievement places him in an exclusive category of players to have won both the European Championship and the FIFA World Cup, but he is the first to accomplish the feat before turning 20. It further strengthens his reputation as one of the game's most accomplished young talents, having already collected major honours with both club and country before reaching his 20th birthday.
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente spoke afterwards of his "sincere gratitude" to Lamine Yamal. "He has played great football that will help him to mature and be even a greater footballer than he already is," he said. "He really sacrificed for the collective good. This is very important in my squad. In my opinion he played a great World Cup".
The historic milestone adds another chapter to Yamal's rapidly growing legacy and highlights his central role in Spain's emergence as the dominant force in international football. At 19, he has won La Liga, domestic trophies, the UEFA European Championship and now the FIFA World Cup. His performances on football's biggest stages have made him one of the brightest stars of the new generation.
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