Top 10 youngest players to debut in the Champions League – from Max Dowman to history-makers
Arsenal’s star Now, Max Dowman is the youngest player in the history of the Champions League.
How did the other teenagers in the top 10 fare? Dowman became the first 15-year-old to play in the Champions League by coming off the bench for Arsenal.
With Lamine Yamal among others, he instantly rises to the top of this list. Here are the ten youngest players to play in the Champions League, but there are also some cautionary tales for those thinking Dowman would now sweep Europe and the globe.
10) Charis Mavrias
Club: Panathinaikos
Age: (16 years, 242 days)
Trending
In the final twelve minutes of Panathinaikos’ 0-0 tie with Rubin Kazan in 2010–11, Mavrias made his first senior appearance for the Greek team.
Before joining Paolo Di Canio’s Sunderland in 2013, the right-sided player earned 54 appearances and was named a Greece international.
Mavrias was sandwiched like a stottie around a loan return to Panathinaikos, making just seven matches for the Black Cats.
After leaving Wearside, Mavrias travelled to Germany, Croatia, Scotland, and Cyprus before coming back to Greece, where he is currently a 31-year-old Panetolikos player.
9) Warren Zaire-Emery
Club: Paris Saint German
Age: (16 years, 232 days)
Two and a half months after becoming the French club’s youngest player in any official tournament, Zaire-Emery became the youngest player to represent PSG in the Champions League when he came off the bench during a 7-2 victory against Maccabi Haifa in October 2022.
The midfielder became the youngest player to start a Champions League knockout match in a 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich later in the 2022–2023 season, 22 days before turning 17.
Zaire-Emery is now the youngest PSG player to accomplish almost everything since his breakout season.
He made 55 appearances in PSG’s Treble-winning campaign last season and was voted Ligue 1 Young Player of the Season in 2023–2024.
Zaire-Emery, who made his debut for France in 2023 and scored the crucial third goal in a 14-0 victory over Gibraltar, also has seven caps.
8) Francesco Camarda
Club: AC Milan
Age: 16 years, 226 days
At the age of 15 years, 260 days, Camarda became the youngest player in Serie A history after scoring 485 goals in 89 games for Milan’s academy—five goals or more a game?
When the attacker came off the bench against Club Brugge in October 2024, eleven months later, he became the youngest Italian to participate in the Champions League.
Shortly after entering the game, the forward scored, but the goal was VAR-ed. His yellow card for removing his jersey remained in effect, and he has yet to score his first senior goal for the Rossoneri.
Camarda went on loan to Lecce last summer in order to obtain more senior experience.
Although there is a buyout option in the contract, Milan has complete control over the striker’s destiny thanks to a buy-back clause.
7) Youri Tielemans
Club: Anderlecht
Age: (16 years, 148 days)
The young lad became the youngest Belgian to play in the Champions League when he started against Olympiacos in October 2013, around two months after making his senior debut for Anderlecht.
Before moving to Monaco, the midfielder played four seasons in Belgium and won Player of the Season in 2016–17. He soon established himself as a starter.
Tielemans moved to Leicester after two years in France, first on loan and then permanently for £32 million.
He scored the FA Cup-winning goal for the Foxes in 2021, and he was linked to lucrative deals to Manchester United and Arsenal.
However, he moved to Aston Villa, where he won Player of the Season the previous season.
6) Alen Halilovic
Club: Dinamo Zagreb
Age: 16 years, 128 days
A month after becoming Dinamo Zagreb’s youngest debutant ever, Halilovic became the second-youngest player in the Champions League as a last-minute substitution against PSG in October 2012.
Back then when the wonderkid moved to Barcelona in 2014, Halilovic was unable to live up to the promise. Before setting out on a five-country, nine-club tour of Europe, he made just one senior appearance for Barcelona and only once managed to make more than 20 league appearances in a season.
The 29-year-old Halilovic appears to have adjusted into his second season at Fortuna Sittard.
The offensive midfielder has scored seven goals there, which is the most since he left Dinamo Zagreb eleven years ago.
5) Rayan Cherki
Club: Lyon
Age: (16 years, 102 days)
In November 2019, Cherki made his Champions League debut for Lyon as a substitute in a 2-0 loss to Zenit.
Before joining Manchester City this summer, when he also earned his senior France debut, the playmaker made a name for himself at Les Gones and became a staple for his hometown team for five seasons.
Cherki was an exeptional player and he delivers even more than everybody expect, he cost City £30.5 million, which is 25% of what Liverpool spent on Florian Wirtz.
4) Celestine Babayaro
Club: Anderlecht
Age: (16 years, 86 days)
Thirty-one years have passed since the former Nigerian defender became the youngest player in the Champions League.
In November 1994, he received two yellow cards against Steaua Buchareşt in a 1-1 draw, setting a new record for the youngest player to be sent off.
In 1997, Babayaro, who was still a youngster, was acquired by Chelsea for £2.25 million after three seasons with the Anderlecht first squad.
Before Jose Mourinho sold the defender to Newcastle in 2005, he spent eight seasons at Stamford Bridge, playing in at least half of their Premier League games.
Somehow, Babayaro’s unmemorable tenure at Newcastle lasted for four years. Following his release, Toon chairman Freddy Shepherd called him a “disgrace” who “didn’t pull his weight.”
3) Lamine Yamal
Club: Barcelona
Age: (16 years, 68 days)
In September 2023, Yamal made his Champions League debut as the youngest starter in a 5-0 victory over Royal Antwerp.
There’s a possibility for the boy to become a great player, but that depends only if he can control himself and drop his ego.
2) Youssoufa Moukoko
Club: Borussia Dortmund
Age: (16 years, 18 days)
A day after turning sixteen in November 2020, Moukoko made his Dortmund debut, replacing Erling Haaland and becoming the youngest player in Bundesliga history.
A little more than two weeks later, he watched twice as an unused substitute before taking the Champions League record against Zenit.
Before being included in the 2022 World Cup team, the striker—dubbed “the biggest talent in the world” by Haaland—became the youngest Germany international since Uwe Seeler.
However, Moukoko found it difficult to live up to the hype. The youth struggled to secure a starting position due to nagging ailments, and he failed during a loan stint at Nice intended to launch his senior career.
FC Copenhagen paid Dortmund £4.3 million for Moukoko to join them this summer.
1) Max Dowman
Club: Arsenal
Age: (15 years, 308 days)
When Dowman appeared as a substitute in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Slavia Prague, he became the first 15-year-old to play in the Champions League.
However, Dowman trails teammate Ethan Nwaneri as the youngest player to play in the Premier League and the youngest to represent Arsenal. the enormous swindle.
