Lamine Yamal is the third-youngest World Cup finalist—and he was scouted from his working-class neighborhood at just 6 years old
This Sunday, millions of soccer fans across the globe will be glued to their screens watching Spain and Argentina battle for the World Cup title. And Spain’s 19-year-old superstar, Lamine Yamal, will become the tournament’s third-youngest finalist. Just a few years ago, Yamal was a teenager growing up in Spain’s working-class neighborhood of Rocafonda; he’s been training for this day since he was scouted at six years old.
“Look, my mum had me when she was 16,” Yamal recently said during an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena SER. “My dad also 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. To me, this is real pressure, not what I have.”
He was raised in a migrant hub in Mataró, Catalonia, Spain, just 20 miles northeast of Barcelona.
Studies suggest that half of the Rocafonda’s population lives under the poverty line. And Yamal is proud of his roots; whenever he scores a goal, he flashes the number “304” in homage to his hometown’s area code, 08304. The footballer’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, emigrated to the working-class enclave from Morocco; and his mother, Sheila Ebana, came from Equatorial Guinea.
From an early age, it was clear that Yamal had an extraordinary gift. At just the age of six, he was scouted by FC Barcelona while playing for a local club near his hometown. Barça scouts saw his talent on the field, and brought him in for the junior team training at La Masia—the Spanish city’s famed youth academy that produced the likes of Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta. He joined the club at just seven years old.
At 15, Yamal made his FC Barcelona debut—the youngest ever to step out on the club’s first team since 1922. And it would be just one of many firsts for the now 19-year-old heading to the sport’s biggest stage this weekend.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup isn’t the first major milestone for Spain’s left-footed forward. The teenager has already lived a whirlwind career before reaching the age to legally drink at his World Cup final in New Jersey. Diehard fans of the sport say he’s the best player in Spain; many place him among the best in the world.
At just 16 years old, Yamal made his Spain national team debut at a Euro 2024 qualifier against Georgia. The next month, he scored in a game against Granada, becoming the youngest goal-scorer in La Liga history. And one year later, he helped Spain clinch their fourth European title at the UEFA Euro 2024 Tournament, earning the competition’s Youngest Player of the Tournament award.
That fall, Yamal took home the Kopa Trophy at France Football magazine’s prestigious Ballon d’Or gala. He had 18 goals and 25 assists under his belt by the end of his 2024-2025 Barcelona season.
And after more than a decade playing the sport, he’s racked up a long list of “firsts.” Yamal was the youngest Barcelona player to reach 50 official appearances; youngest goalscorer in Spanish national team history; youngest to appear in a European Championship final.
And with his success came endorsement deals and bigger contracts. ESPN ranked Yamal as the 10th highest-paid player in the sport last year, estimating that he earned about $43 million: $33 million on the field, and around $10 million off the field. Last year, Yamal signed a long-term contract extension with Barcelona that runs through the end of the 2030-2031 season, reportedly paying him an annual salary of about €19 million (around $21.5 million).
The World Cup has only added to his growing résumé. Ten minutes into his World Cup debut this June, Yamal scored against Saudi Arabia in Spain’s second group-stage match. That strike also made him the second-youngest player to open the scoring at a World Cup match, behind only Pelé in 1958. And in the upcoming match against Argentina, Yamal is looking to bring home another win for his country.
If Spain takes home the trophy this Sunday, he’ll be set to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars.