Top five youngest FIFA World Cup winners

This tournament has been an ideal platform for players to make their presence known.

It’s a childhood dream. Representing your country at the FIFA World Cup, playing on the world stage in front of millions. But imagine, you’re actually young, like school young – and yet, you’re playing it and winning it. For some lucky but no doubt exceptionally-talented players, this became a reality. Let’s take a closer look at the youngest players in World Cup history to win it.

5. Thierry Henry (20 years)

Before Kylian Mbappe became a household name, there was Thierry Henry in a star-studded French team including the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Co. Henry, at the age of just 20, burst into the limelight with France, winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup. However, Henry didn’t make an appearance in the finals against Brazil, where France won 3-0. He had already played his role, scoring thrice in six matches. Following this, Henry continued to represent France in the next three World Cups – 2002, 2006, and 2010.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Henry was one of the guaranteed starters in the squad. He played as a lone striker and managed to score seven goals in seven games as France finished runner-up with Italy winning the final on penalties. After accumulating 123 appearances and 51 goals, Henry retired from international football after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

4. Kylian Mbappe (19 years)

With his astonishing speed and agility, it feels like he is on a bike on a football field. 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe announced himself to the world with a second-half goal in the final of the 2018 World Cup. Mbappe became the youngest player to score in the World Cup final since Pele in 1958, bringing back the title to France after 20 years.

He was one of the most important players for France throughout the campaign. Mbappe’s only strike in the 1–0 win over Peru made the 19-year-old his country’s youngest goal scorer at a major tournament. The victory qualified France to the knockout stages. In the round of 16, Mbappé managed to score a brace in five minutes, knocking out Lionel Messi’s Argentina 4-3.

Just like on the pitch, Mbappe teleported from being just another 14-year-old to becoming the second-most-expensive transfer in the history of football as PSG paid more than $200 million to sign him from Monaco and the rest, as they say, is history.

3. Giuseppe Bergomi (18 years)

At the tender age of 18 years, Bergomi was selected by Italian national team coach Enzo Bearzot in the 1982 World Cup squad. He started the tournament on the bench and during the group stage did a great job in marking Socrates and Serginho against Brazil in a memorable 3-2 win. Bergomi impressed everyone with his maturity in the semi-final and the final.

He helped Italy keep a clean sheet against Poland in the semis. Bergomi was given the impossible job of marking the-then reigning 2x Ballon D’or winner Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in the final. He completely took him out of the game as Italy ran out 3-1 winners with Bergomi taking part in the build-up for Marco Tardelli’s iconic goal.

Giuseppe Bergomi was a World Cup winner just over a year after making his first appearance in a senior match. Four years later in 1986, Bergomi captained his national side to a third-place finish in Mexico. Bergomi in total played 81 times for Italy and retired in 1999 having spent his entire career at Inter Milan, where he made 756 appearances. With his prominent mustache, intimidating physique, and mature persona, he had earned himself the nickname of ‘Uncle’.

2. Ronaldo Nazario (17 years)

Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima ‘The Phenomenon’ was a generational talent. If not for a catalog of serious knee injuries, he would probably be known as the greatest ever to play football. In 1994, a 17-year-old Ronaldo was part of the World Cup winning Brazil team in the United States. However, he only made it to the bench and did not play a single minute.

Ronaldo scored a staggering 115 goals in 134 games between 1994 and 1999 during two brilliant spells at Barcelona (37 goals, 34 games) and PSV (46 goals in 42 games). By 23, he had scored over 200 goals for club and country.

In 1998, he was one of the key members of the star-studded Brazilian side that reached the final. He played despite suffering a convulsive fit hours before the game. In 2000, he ruptured his right knee cruciate ligament and missed the entire qualification campaign for Brazil. In the 2002 World Cup final, he went on to score a brace against Germany to help Brazil lift the World Cup.

Despite reoccurring knee injuries, Ronaldo carved out more than a decent footballing career, later playing for Los Blancos as well. He scored 83 goals in 127 games for Real Madrid.

1. Pele (17 years)

Pele is the most well-known footballer in the history of the sport and possibly the greatest attacking player of the 20th century. The Brazilian legend was just 17 years and 249 days old in 1958 when Brazil outdid Sweden by 5-2 in the final at the Rasunda Stadium in Solna, Sweden. Pele scored a brace, winning the Selecao their first ever World Cup. The image of a 17-year-old Pele crying in his teammates’ arms following the triumph is still a poster in several rooms.

Despite struggling with a knee injury, then manager Vicente Ítalo Feola selected the 17-year-old for the World Cup. Being sidelined for the initial stages of the tournament, his overall performance was more than impressive. Vicente eased him back into action against USSR, and Pele provided an assist in Brazil’s 2-0 victory. Later, he became the youngest-ever goal-scorer in the World Cup in their quarter-final victory over Wales.

Brazil’s 5-2 triumph over France in the semi-finals saw Pele become the youngest scorer of a hat-trick in World Cup history. He also won the World Cup in 1962 in Chile. Later on, he went on to claim his third World Cup trophy after eight years in Mexico. He is the only player to have won 3 World Cup trophies.

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