WORLD CUP RECORDS (Part 2) - THE YOUNGEST PLAYERS
Picture : Norman Whiteside, already 40 years record !
Youngest Player: Norman Whiteside
*Norman Whiteside’s record (playing at age of 17 years 41 days) stands already 40 years.
*Pelé (Brazil) is still the only player younger than 18 to appear in a final game and also to become the champion: 17 years 249 days vs Sweden on 29 June 1958.
*After Pelé and Whiteside, only players from two African countries appeared being under 18 (three from Cameroon, two from Nigeria), all between 1994 and 2002. So, the list of 17-year participants includes now 7 names, without any new name during last 20 years.
*Among the players ever included in the squads, there was one under 17 years: Edu (Brazil), full name Jonas Eduardo Américo. He was 16 years 339 days young at the start of World Cup 1966.
Unfortunately, Silvio Feola, the “Seleção” coach at that failure (for his team) tournament, didn’t give him a chance to appear.
*Tony Meola (USA) is the youngest captain at the World Cups: 21 years 109 days old in a game vs Czechoslovakia (1-5) on 10 June 1990.
*Souleymane Mamam (Togo) appeared in a qualifier vs Zambia on 6 May 2001 being just 13 years 310 days old. He is youngest ever player in the World Cup qualification.
| Player | Country | Age (Y-D) | Date | Game | |
| 1 | Norman Whiteside | Northern Ireland | 17-041 | 17/06/1982 | Yugoslavia 0-0 |
| 2 | Samuel Eto'o | Cameroon | 17-099 | 17/06/1998 | Italy 0-3 |
| 3 | Femi Opabunmi | Nigeria | 17-101 | 12/06/2002 | England 0-0 |
| 4 | Salomon Olembe | Cameroon | 17-185 | 11/06/1998 | Austria 1-1 |
| 5 | Pelé | Brazil | 17-235 | 15/06/1958 | Soviet Union 2-0 |
| 6 | Bartholomew Ogbeche | Nigeria | 17-244 | 02/06/2002 | Argentina 0-1 |
| 7 | Rigobert Song | Cameroon | 17-353 | 19/06/1994 | Sweden 2-2 |
| 8 | Carvalho Leite | Brazil | 18-025 | 20/07/1930 | Bolivia 4-0 |
| 9 | Manuel Rosas | Mexico | 18-087 | 13/07/1930 | France 1-4 |
| 10 | Christian Eriksen | Denmark | 18-120 | 14/06/2010 | Netherlands 0-2 |
| 11 | Segundo Durandal | Bolivia | 18-122 | 17/07/1930 | Yugoslavia 0-4 |
| 12 | Bertus de Harder | Netherlands | 18-142 | 05/06/1938 | Czechoslovakia 0-3 |
| 13 | Vincent Aboubakar | Cameroon | 18-148 | 19/06/2010 | Denmark 1-2 |
| 14 | Assimiou Toure | Togo | 18-163 | 13/06/2006 | South Korea 1-2 |
| 15 | Michael Owen | England | 18-183 | 15/06/1998 | Tunisia 2-0 |
| 16 | Chris Wood | New Zealand | 18-190 | 15/06/2010 | Slovakia 1-1 |
| 17 | Giuseppe Bergomi | Italy | 18-195 | 05/07/1982 | Brazil 3-2 |
| 18 | Nicolae Kovacs | Romania | 18-197 | 14/07/1930 | Peru 3-1 |