A player born in 2009 has made an appearance in the Premier League. That’s right.
Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga, 15, had a 16-minute EPL cameo during his side’s 3-0 defeat to Newcastle on Monday.
Monga, who plays at left wing, had to follow an unusual rule and wear a jersey without a sponsor. Britain's Gambling Act doesn’t allow players younger than 18 to wear gambling sponsors.
Jeremy Monga shirt blank
15-year-old Jeremy Monga comes on for Leicester to become the second-youngest player in Premier League history.
So young he can't have a gambling sponsor on his shirt pic.twitter.com/lUUDs4jBGp— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 7, 2025
22y 180d - There was a gap in age of 22 years and 180 days between Leicester's Jeremy Monga (b. July 2009) and Jamie Vardy (b. January 1987) last night, the biggest age gap between two outfield teammates in a Premier League match. Generations. pic.twitter.com/pOw47ilbR1
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 8, 2025
Leicester’s shirt sponsor is BC.GAME which is an online gaming platform that uses cryptocurrency for gambling.
Monga is officially the second youngest player to ever appear in the Premier League. Only Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri has Monga beat by just 90 days when he appeared for the Gunners in 2022.
Still, Monga is the first player born in 2009 to appear in England’s top flight.
At the time Monga was born Cristiano Ronaldo had just signed for Real Madrid, The Black Eyed Peas were top of the music charts with “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling”, the author writing this article was preparing to enter sixth grade and the U.S. was in a recession.
Some things never change.
