Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana (born 13 July 2007), commonly known as Lamine Yamal or simply Yamal, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right winger for the club Barcelona and the Spain national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world.
Yamal was a member of Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia, before joining the first team in the 2023–24 season at the age of 15. At age 17, he became the youngest player to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or, and in 2024 and 2025 he won the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best young player in the world. Under manager Hansi Flick, Yamal helped Barcelona win a domestic treble during the 2024–25 season: La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España. Barcelona retained the La Liga title in the 2025–26 season, with Yamal being named La Liga Player of the Season. At 18 years old, he finished as runner-up for the 2025 Ballon d'Or.
Yamal has represented Spain internationally at various youth levels and made his debut for the senior team in 2023, becoming the youngest player to represent the country at age 16. In 2024, he became the youngest player to score in the UEFA European Championship, earning the Young Player Award as Spain achieved their fourth title. At Yamal's FIFA World Cup debut in 2026, he won his first World Cup title.
Early life Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana was born on 13 July 2007, in Esplugues de Llobregat in the Barcelona metropolitan area in Catalonia. Yamal's father, Mounir Nasraoui, is from a village between Larache and Ksar el-Kebir in Morocco. His mother, Sheila Ebana, is from Bata, Equatorial Guinea. Yamal has a younger half-brother and a younger half-sister. He has a compound given name to honour two family friends, Lamine and Yamal, who helped his parents financially shortly before Yamal was born. As a baby he was featured in a 2007 UNICEF charity photo shoot with his future club Barcelona, during which he was bathed by a 20-year-old Lionel Messi. The photos went viral online in 2024 after Yamal's father posted one of them online. Two years later, the photos received additional attention in the media as Yamal and Messi prepared to face each other in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.
An important figure in Yamal's upbringing was his paternal grandmother, Fatima, who migrated from Tangier, Morocco, to Spain in 1990. Facing financial hardship, she worked to anchor the family in Rocafonda, a neighbourhood in the city of Mataró in Catalonia. When Yamal's parents separated during his early childhood, Fatima took on a vital role in raising him, managing his daily routine and ensuring he could attend training sessions. Yamal started playing football at the age of four at local club La Torreta in Granollers, where his mother was living. He alternated between Mataró and Granollers to spend time with both his parents. His goal celebrations include a hand gesture indicating the number 304, the last three digits of the Rocafonda postcode 08304. Following his success, his popularisation of the number has been credited with bringing pride and recognition to the working class community of Rocafonda.
At six years old, Yamal was scouted by Barcelona and was invited to training sessions at La Masia. He signed for the club in 2014 and moved to Barcelona to live and train at the academy. Growing up, Yamal's footballing idols were Ronaldinho, Messi and Neymar.
Club career
Early career As Yamal progressed through the ranks of Barcelona's La Masia youth academy, he was soon considered one of its best prospects. Initially added to the Juvenil A team – already above his age grade – for the 2022–23 season, Yamal was selected by Xavi to train with the first team along with other young players in early September 2022. He made his first-team debut on 29 April 2023, replacing Gavi in the 83rd minute of a 4–0 victory against Real Betis in La Liga, in which he registered a shot on target. At 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days old, he was the youngest player to appear for Barcelona's first team since the 15-year-old Armando Sagi in 1922. On 14 May 2023, Yamal was a member of the Barcelona squad that won the 2022–23 La Liga championship.
2023–24 season: First team breakthrough Although Yamal remained on Barcelona's reserve team throughout the 2023–24 season, he earned his first start for the club on 20 August 2023 during a 2–0 victory over Cádiz at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. He became the youngest Barcelona starter in history, and was met with a standing ovation. In his next starting appearance, he was named Man of the Match after providing two assists during a 4–3 victory over Villarreal on 28 August. He was named the inaugural U23 Player of the Month for August as a result of his performances. On 19 September, Yamal made his Champions League debut in a 5–0 victory over Royal Antwerp, becoming the second-youngest player in history to play in the tournament. On 2 October, he extended his contract with Barcelona until 2026, with a buyout clause of €1 billion. The following week, he scored his first senior goal during a 2–2 draw with Granada. In early December, Yamal was given the inaugural Golden Boy The Youngest trophy, which is awarded to the youngest player nominated for the Golden Boy award.
On 11 January 2024, Yamal scored in a 2–0 win over Osasuna in the semi-final of the Supercopa de España, becoming the youngest player to score in the Supercopa, at 16 years and 182 days old. Two weeks later, he scored in the Copa del Rey quarter-final against Athletic Bilbao in an eventual 4–2 loss after extra time, becoming the youngest goalscorer in the competition's history. On 11 February, Yamal scored his first brace in a 3–3 draw against Granada, and was named Man of the Match. At the conclusion of the 2023–24 season, Barcelona finished second in La Liga and were eliminated from Champions League contention in the quarter-finals by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Yamal served an assist against PSG in the second leg, which Barcelona lost 4–1.
2024–25 season: 100th appearance for Barcelona and second Kopa Trophy In the first match of the 2024–25 La Liga season on 18 August, Yamal served an assist to help Barcelona defeat Valencia 2–1. In the following match against Athletic Bilbao on 24 August, he scored his first goal of the season in another 2–1 victory. On 19 September, he scored his first Champions League goal during a 2–1 loss to Monaco in the Champions League league phase, becoming the second-youngest scorer in Champions League history. On 26 October, he became the youngest goalscorer in El Clásico history when he scored once in a 4-0 victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. During the match, Yamal and his teammates Fati and Raphinha were targeted with racial abuse by a group of Real Madrid supporters.
After scoring in a 5–0 win over Valencia in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on 6 February 2025, Yamal failed to score for over a month. His goalscoring drought in La Liga ran from 26 October 2024 to 18 March 2025, prompting former player Francesco Totti to label him a player who scores "few goals". During this period, manager Hansi Flick defended Yamal, stating: "Everyone wants to score, but he creates a lot of chances. The important thing is that the team scores, not who scores." On 30 April, Yamal made his 100th appearance for Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals against Inter Milan, scoring a goal in a 3–3 draw during the first leg. He was described by Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi as "a phenomenon born every 50 years".
At the end of the season, Yamal became the first player to win the Kopa Trophy twice, and finished second in voting for the Ballon d’Or. He was also ranked as the second-best winger, behind Mohamed Salah, in ESPN's annual list of Best Male Footballers in the World. He was awarded the La Liga Goal of the Month in March 2024 and was named La Liga U23 Player of the Month for August 2024 and February 2025, as well as La Liga Player of the Month for September 2024, November 2025, and December 2025. Yamal was also IFFHS Men's Player of the Month in April 2025.
2025–26 season: Long-term contract
On 27 May 2025, Yamal agreed to his first long-term contract with Barcelona, tying him to the club until June 2031 and to be signed upon his eighteenth birthday. The Athletic reported that his contract could potentially reach a value of $45.3 million per year gross—including wages, bonuses and contract fees—making him one of Barcelona's top-paid players. At the contract signing event on 16 July, Yamal was presented with Barcelona's number 10 shirt. On 22 September, he finished second in voting for the 2025 Ballon d'Or, behind the winner Ousmane Dembélé. Yamal's father called the Ballon d'Or result "the biggest moral damage done to a human being". He added: "I think Lamine Yamal is the best player in the world by far, by a huge margin. Not because he's my son, but because he's the best player in the world. I think there are no rivals."
On 28 February 2026, Yamal scored his first career hat-trick in a 4–1 win over Villarreal. In late April, he suffered a torn hamstring, which sidelined him for the rest of the 2025–26 season. He finished the season as the club's top scorer, with 24 goals and 17 assists in all competitions, including 16 goals and 11 assists in La Liga. He was named La Liga Player of the Month for April 2026. At the end of the season, ESPN ranked Yamal as the second-best winger, behind Michael Olise, in its annual list of Best Male Footballers in the World.
2026–27 season On 23 August 2026, Yamal was a starter in Barcelona's 5–0 victory against Elche, and was substituted off after 65 minutes. Coach Hansi Flick said that Yamal was suffering from headaches and was not in his best physical condition at the start of the season due to a short preseason. On 31 August, Yamal scored his first two goals of the season in a 5–2 win over Rayo Vallecano, bringing his official tally for Barcelona to 51 goals. In doing so, he became the youngest player in the history of Europe's top five leagues to reach the 50-goal mark, breaking the record previously held by Kylian Mbappé. On 6 September, Yamal scored twice in a 5–0 victory over Valencia.
On 9 September, 19-year-old Yamal became the youngest player to captain Barcelona when captain Raphinha was substituted off during a 5–1 Champions League win over Feyenoord. Yamal scored and provided two assists in the match. Barcelona's 4–2 win over Levante on 13 September marked Yamal's third consecutive league game in which he scored a brace, making him the second Barcelona player in history to register three braces in the first five La Liga matches of a season, after Lionel Messi during the 2012–13 season.
Leading up to the 26 October presentation of the 2026 Ballon d'Or, commentators have observed that Yamal and several other candidates are publicly campaigning for the award to a much higher degree than candidates in previous years.
International career
Catalonia Yamal played for youth teams of the Catalonia national football team from a young age. He was the captain of the under-12, under-14 and under-16 teams. While playing for the U16 team in November 2022, he scored in a match against Castile and León. Later that month he scored from a penalty, provided an assist, and received a red card in a 2–2 draw with Aragon that sent Catalonia through to the Fase d'Or of the 2022–23 Spanish regional team championship. Yamal was not called up to the squad for the Fase d'Or in 2023.
Spain