Prodigies

15-year-old Chloe Ricketts becomes youngest NWSL player in history signing with Washington Spirit

High school sophomore Chloe Ricketts became the youngest player in the National Women’s Soccer League history on Thursday when she signed with the Washington Spirit. Ricketts signed a three-year contract with an option to extend for a fourth year in 2026.

The record for youngest NWSL player was previously held by Olivia Moultrie who signed with the Portland Thorns when she was 15 years and 286 days old. At the time of Ricketts’ signing, she was 15 years and 283 days old.

After viral indoor goal, Dutch phenom knocks Barça out of UEFA Youth League with another stunner

I've seen enough. I'm declaring 17-year-old AZ Alkmaar phenom Kees Smit the winner of the 2023 Golden Boy Award, and there's nothing some preciously talented La Masia graduate at Barcelona can do about it. 

Over a month ago, the Netherlands youth international came to my attention with an incredibly inventive goal during an indoor match. It's as beautiful as a Rembrandt.   

Haiti reaches first-ever Women's World Cup behind the brilliance of 19-year-old Melchie Dumornay

With a 2-1 victory over Chile on Wednesday in Auckland, Haiti made history by securing qualification for their first-ever Women's World Cup finals. It's a remarkable achievement that highlights the growth of the team after not even reaching the final stage of Concacaf qualifying during the previous cycle, although there's one clear star of the show: 19-year-old phenom Melchie Dumornay.

No lie, this has to be one of the greatest assists of all time

For the game's great distributors of the ball, there's unfortunately no assist equivalent of the Puskás Award. But maybe we'd do well to highlight the year's best assist with the Pelé-to-Carlos Alberto Memorial Trophy or something. Basically I just think that Giannis Konstantelias needs some form of recognition for what he accomplished in PAOK Thessaloniki's recent Super League victory over AEK Athens. 

Karim Adeyemi going coast-to-coast on Chelsea and celebrating with a backflip was too mean

Karim Adeyemi has been playing his best football at Borussia Dortmund since returning from the World Cup with Germany, and against Chelsea at Signal Iduna Park in Wednesday night's Champions League Round of 16 first leg the 21-year-old truly announced himself with a match-winning solo goal.

The game was very reminiscent of Diego Maradona vs. England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals.

First, Thiago Silva tried to do his best "Hand of God" impression. The center back had the ball in the back of the net but the ref spotted the infringement and booked the Brazilian. Booo.  

41-year-old Zlatan competes with his 16-year-old son at AC Milan training session

Zlatan Ibrahimović is one of the world's most brazenly outspoken footballers, and as a result of that he's also one of the most widely publicized. However, the 41-year-old maintains a largely anonymous private life, spending much of his offseason time in Malmö with longtime partner Helena Seger and their two sons Maximilian (age 16) and Vincent (age 14).

The 8 players to watch out for at SheBelieves Cup 2023

The World Cup is just 160 days away, so the 2023 SheBelieves Cup takes on added significance with teams looking to lockdown tactics and players battling to make an impression ahead of the final roster announcements for Australia and New Zealand. 

Messi saves PSG after Mbappé misses two penalties and goes off injured

Lionel Messi was on the scoresheet as PSG beat Montpellier 3-1 away on Wednesday to open up a five-point lead at the top of Ligue 1. However, it wasn't all good for the Parisians with Kylian Mbappé going off injured in the 21st minute while Sergio Ramos joined him in the 32nd.

PSG's all-important Champions League Round of 16 first leg against Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes is just 13 days away, and the team was already playing without Neymar because of "muscle fatigue" although the Brazilian should be back this weekend.

19-year-old Notre Dame standout signs multi-year contract with PSG women

After two incredible years at Notre Dame, Korbin Albert is taking the next step in her meteoric career: the 19-year-old midfielder just put pen to paper on a deal with Paris Saint-Germain Féminine through 2025.

During her 2021 season, Albert was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team and Top-Drawer Soccer Freshman Best XI Team with 12 goals in 22 games. Her performances earned her a spot on the USWNT's 2022 FIFA U-20 World Cup roster, where Albert started two matches in midfield alongside Portland Thorns phenom Olivia Moultrie.

16-year-old prodigy Vicky López makes goalscoring history at Barcelona

Barcelona Femení made football history on Wednesday by becoming the first team (men's or women's) to win 50 straight league matches after hammering Levante Las Planas 7-0 on Wednesday. Club history was also made as 16-year-old phenom Vicky López became Barça Femení's youngest-ever goalscorer in Liga F.

Barça's run in the league stretches back to a 4-3 defeat to Atlético Madrid on June 1, 2021, but they finished the 2020-21 campaign with five wins, won all 30 games in 2021-22 and have reached the halfway point of 2022-23 with 15 victories.

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