Teenager Yamal and veteran Pepe set to break records at Euro 2024

Raphaël Bejczy

Lamine Yamal celebrates his 17th birthday just one day before the Euro finalAFP

We are just days away from the start of Euro 2024 and all squads have now been reduced to their maximum of 26 players. The age differences in the selections are huge this year and the youngest player travelling to Germany is currently as much as 25 years younger than the oldest player picked. What's more, both players could break records in Germany.

Teens

There are 11 teenagers selected for the Euros this year. Well-known European top talents such as Lamine Yamal, Warren Zaire-Emery, Kobbie Mainoo, Arda Guler, Joao Neves and Arthur Vermeeren are all on the eve of their first major international final tournament. 18-year-old Feyenoord player Leo Sauer is also in the side with Slovakia.

Barcelona sensation Yamal is the youngest player to take part in the Euros. Just one day before the tournament final, he celebrates his seventeenth birthday and if he is in action, he will become the youngest player to ever get minutes at the Euros.

That record currently stands in the name of Kacper Kozlowski, the Pole who has been loaned out by Brighton to Vitesse for the past two seasons. He was 17 years and eight months old when he played against Spain for his native country in 2021.

Lamine Yamal could become the youngest ever player at a EurosAFP

The record for the youngest goalscorer at a Euros is held by Johan Vonlanthen, who scored for Switzerland in 2004 at the age of 18. Incidentally, his record may not only be taken away by Yamal this summer, but also by Zaire-Emery.

41

The record for the oldest player ever in action could also be broken. FC Porto's 136-time international Pepe is the only 40-plus player at the final tournament in Germany.

In fact, the 2016 European Championship winner celebrated his 41st birthday back in February and could become the first player ever to be in action at that age.

The oldest player to have made minutes so far is Gabor Kiraly, who stood in the Hungarian goal in 2016 at the age of 40 in his characteristic grey training trousers.

The oldest outfield player is Lothar Matthaus, the record German international who was 39 at the European Championship at the turn of the century.

Gabor Kiraly playing against Pepe in his iconic training pants in 2016AFP

Pepe, of course, can also become the oldest goal scorer in history. That record is currenlty held by Ivica Vastic, who was 38 when he scored a goal for Austria in 2008.

However, that record can be taken over not only by Pepe, but also by Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo, his former teammates at Real Madrid.