Lamine Yamal’s performance at the ongoing European Championship is expected to boost football in Equatorial Guinea, says the country’s football federation.
The 16-year-old, who surprised the world with his performances in Germany, plays for Spain despite having an Equatoguinean mother and a Moroccan father.
Born in Barcelona, where he grew up, he comes through the La Masia academy for the five-time European champion, with whom he recently completed his first season of action.
“Even though Lamine is not playing for Equatorial Guinea, we hold him very close to our hearts and we think he will do a lot of things for Equatorial Guinea,” Venancio Tomas Ndong Micha, president of the country’s football federation, told BBC Sport Africa.
“We are enjoying his extraordinary performances at the Euros, as well as his great season at FC Barcelona. He has our roots and this shows that we are a country of good football players,” added Ndong Micha.
In charge of set-piece situations for a major European football country, despite his young age, Yamal showed his versatile ability with his impressive goal against France and assists in games against Croatia, Georgia and Germany.
He is due to play in the final against England on Sunday, the day after his 17th birthday, making him the youngest player to appear in a Euro or World Cup final.
Pelé is the youngest to play in a World Cup final. He was 17 years and 249 days old when he played in Brazil’s 5-2 victory over Sweden in the 1958 final, when he scored two goals.
Yamal’s record as the youngest Euro goalscorer (at 16 years and 361 days) will be very difficult to beat. Just like his achievements at Barcelona – where he is the youngest player to start a league game (16 years and 38 days) – and in La Liga, where he is the youngest scorer in history (16 years and 87 days).
‘He’s not forgetting his roots’
Equatorial Guinea is a country divided into two parts, with the capital Malabo located on one of its island areas, while the largest city on the African continent is Bata, where Yamal’s mother was born.
She eventually made it to Spain, where she was working as a waitress, when she met his father, from whom she has since been separated.
While his mother and grandmother live in Barcelona, the rest of Yamal’s maternal family is still in Equatorial Guinea, a country that has reached the knockout stage at the last two Africa Cup of Nations despite its small stature.
Three years ago, Equatorial Guinea’s football federation (Feguifoot) attempted to secure the winger’s services for the team currently ranked 89th by FIFA, only to discover that they were far behind Spain, who face England in the Equatorial Guinea Championship final. Europe, on Sunday.
“We contacted the family in 2021, but the advances with the Spanish football federation were very profound,” explained Ndong Micha.
“But we tried, because I happen to be a great friend of the family – especially the grandfather – and the whole family talked about the boy.
“Then there were also the Moroccans who went after him… but the Spanish beat them.”
Faouzi Lekjaa, president of Morocco’s football federation, explained how attempts to secure Yamal last year ended in defeat, given the teenager’s firm desire to play for Spain.
However, both African countries remain close to Yamal’s heart – as can be seen by the presence of their respective national flags on the boots that dazzle his feet.
“This shows that, although he plays for Spain, he does not forget his Equatoguinean roots”, added Ndong Micha.
Ndong Micha believes Yamal is putting his mother’s nation firmly in the global spotlight, saying this reflects Ansu Fati’s advancement at an early age, also in Barcelona, when people learned about his family’s country, Guinea-Bissau.
“Their performances – along with those of the Barça first team – show that Equatorial Guinea has an extraordinarily different way of playing than most African countries”, argues Ndong Micha.
“Given his talent and his roots, one day we may have more players like Lamine here.”
Yamal is not the first Spanish player with Ecuadorian roots to make headlines this year, after Emilio Nsue surprised global observers by finishing as top scorer at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations at the age of 34.
Far less welcome global headlines emerged last month when FIFA ruled that the striker had never been declared eligible to play for Equatorial Guinea, where he is their top scorer with 22 goals.
Even so, his goals helped the “National Thunder” reach the round of 16. The nation of less than two million people reached the knockout stage in all four Afcons it contested.
“We have to continue to prepare well,” says Ndong Micha.
“The government will soon invest in football academies so we can discover more Lamines and Emilios in the future. It is prepared to continue investing as it has done in recent years to continue looking for natural talents from Equatorial Guinea, but particularly in the country itself.
“Before my arrival, we had never qualified for a Nations Cup on our own merits – only as a host country (twice) – but now we have qualified for Afcon twice (in 2021 and 2023).
“At a sporting level, with FIFA, the African Football Confederation and our government we will continue to grow in football so that in the coming years Equatorial Guinea will be the model of a small country but a great giant-killer.”
If Ndong Micha gets his way and the small Central African nation secures a historic first World Cup qualification, there is even a chance Yamal could one day face his mother nation on the biggest stage.
