The talent of Lamine Jamal, the star of the Spanish team, appeared when he was just 4 years old, when he began playing football at the local club “Latorita” in the small province of Roca Funda in Barcelona, where he was born to a father from Morocco and a mother from Equatorial Guinea.
His talent quickly caught the attention of coaches at FC Barcelona’s famous football academy, so they decided to include him at the age of 7 only.
It didn’t take long for Lamine to prove his talent to the managers of Barcelona’s academy, as in his second year playing for the team he managed to score 56 goals in 30 games.
Former Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernandez, decided to include Lamine Jamal in the club’s first team when he was only 15 years old, and asked him to participate with the team’s training, then Barcelona signed a contract with Jamal to join its ranks officially.
Xavi was convinced of Lamin’s talent, so he decided to start playing with the first team of Barcelona at the age of 15 years and 290 days, becoming the youngest player to participate in La Liga in its history.
Lamine Jamal then became the youngest player to participate in the Champions League, as he participated with his team Barcelona in the matches of the tournament, and the youngest to score in it.
The Spanish national team rushed to include Lamine Jamal before he turned 16 years old, fearing that he would play for Morocco or Equatorial Guinea, as he holds the citizenship of both countries through his father and mother.
So that Spain not repeat Hakimi’s experience
It seems that the experience of Achraf Hakimi was fresh before the eyes of Spanish officials, when they rushed to include Lamine Jamal at a young age to the Spanish team, as Hakimi also holds dual Spanish and Moroccan citizenship, and began playing football in the Real Madrid academy, but chose to play for the Morocco team.
Morocco team managed to beat Spain in the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, and advanced to the semifinals, and Hakimi shone with a constellation of Morocco stars in this tournament.
Morocco’s victory over Spain at the time sparked many comments in Spanish newspapers about the role of players with Spain nationality in its defeat.
Starting with the Spanish team
The Spanish Football Federation’s decision to quickly sign Lamine Jamal was clearly right, drawing attention to him a year ago during the Under-17 European Championship.
Jamal, who was 15 years old, led Spain to a 3-0 quarter-final win over Ireland, scoring one goal and providing another assist.
Although the Under-Spain 17s did not win the tournament, having lost to France in the semifinals, they discovered Lamine Jamal’s great abilities, which enabled them to win the title of top scorer in the tournament along with another player who scored the same number of goals.
Luis de la Fuente, the coach of the Spanish national team, quickly decided to include Lamine Jamal in his squad for the European Championship in Germany at the age of just 16.
Jamal did not disappoint the expectations of his coach, as he shone in his team’s match against France, Tuesday, and scored a wonderful goal after manipulating the French defense, becoming the youngest player to score a goal in the history of the European Championship, and then added his teammate Dani Olmo another goal, to climb Spain to the final.
De La Fonte described Jamal’s performance: “We saw a touch of genius from a great player, whom we all know and whom we have to nurture in his journey forward.”
Lamine Jamal will celebrate his 17-year-old on Saturday 13 July July, a day before his team’s Euro 2024 final.
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