Class acts: Best of the European Under-19 Championship
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Article summary
Some of the biggest names in football have featured at this tournament in the last ten years – we pick out six of the best.
Article top media content
Article body
With the 2024 UEFA European Under-19 Championship set to kick off in Northern Ireland on Monday, UEFA.com shines a light on six of the best young talents to have graced the competition over the last ten years.
Kylian Mbappé (2016)
Having already made his first team breakthrough at Monaco, Mbappé – aged just 17 – then stole the show at the 2016 U19 finals in Germany, scoring five goals and setting up another as France stormed to the title.
That kicked off a remarkable club campaign in which he struck 15 goals in Ligue 1 and six more during Monaco's run to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. After cementing his name as one of the world's best players with Paris Saint-Germain, the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner is now ready to take centre stage at Real Madrid.
Frenkie de Jong (2015)
The cultured midfielder made his U19 debut against Russia on Matchday 1 of the finals in Greece, where he started all three of the Netherlands' games.
Following a brief U21 career, he made his senior debut in September 2018 at the start of a season in which he cemented his place in the Ajax midfield. One Dutch league and cup double later, De Jong moved to Barcelona, where he has already picked up three trophies.
Rodri (2015)
Now considered one of the world's best midfielders, Rodri first made his mark at international level by playing all but three minutes of Spain's games at the 2015 finals in Greece as they claimed the U19 title for a seventh time.
A Manchester City mainstay since 2019, the 28-year-old has flourished for the English champions despite strong competition. The 2022/23 campaign was perhaps his finest yet, culminating in his winning goal in the Champions League final and the competition's Player of the Season award.
Erling Haaland (2018)
Top scorer in qualifying with nine goals, the Norway striker managed only one – a penalty – during his 270 minutes of finals action in Finland. He came to wider prominence thanks to nine strikes against Honduras at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and the scoring records have continued to tumble ever since.
A first-half hat-trick on his Champions League debut for Salzburg and a record 36 Premier League goals in his first Manchester City season are among the highlights of a list of achievements that seems to have limitless scope for growth.
Joshua Kimmich (2014)
The versatile Germany stalwart went into the 2014 U19 finals in Hungary on the back of a breakthrough campaign at Leipzig, and he went on to start four of his nation's five games in a holding midfield role.
After enjoying a second successful season at Leipzig, Kimmich moved to Bayern in 2015 and he has barely stopped lifting trophies since, winning eight Bundesliga titles, three German Cups and, in 2019/20, appearing in every game during the Bavarian side's Champions League triumph.
Viktor Gyökeres (2017)
In a U19 tournament featuring talents such as Rafael Leão, Reece James and Teun Koopmeiners, Gyökeres managed to turn heads thanks to his prolific goalscoring instincts. Although Sweden did not make it out of their group, the forward struck in each of their three games, finishing joint-top scorer and being named in the team of the tournament.
The 26-year-old has continued to hone his eye for goal, having recently completed a scintillating debut campaign for Sporting CP. Bagging a whopping 43 goals and 15 assists in all competitions, Gyökeres's exploits helped fire the Lisbon outfit to the Portuguese title.