The Spanish team breaks youth records. Gavi is not only on his way to being the earliest footballer to debut for Spain, but he will also be one of the three youngest participants in the World Cup in Qatar. And he will do so in one of the least aged teams in the tournament and in the history of the national team. “And what is the problem? Youth gives you the ability to express yourself more freely”, defended Luis Enrique on the occasion of the announcement of the list.
The coach’s team is the one with the lowest average age in the last forty years: 20 of those mentioned have no previous World Cup experience with Spain. With an average age of 25.3 years, the red that will compete in Qatar 2022 is only above Ghana and the United States, whose age is a few decimal places below this figure.
Whenever they participate, the Ghanaian team is usually the one with the youngest line-up: it was in Germany in 2006, in South Africa in 2010 and in Brazil in 2014. This year, with an average age of 23.5, they parade again as the youngest team in the entire competition.
Spain, on the other hand, is the first time that it has sneaked into the youngest teams. The average age of the group in the last four decades had never fallen below the threshold of 26 years, nor risen above that of 29, on average.
On the contrary, in the last edition of the World Cup, held in Russia in 2018, Spain presented the oldest team in the entire tournament. This year it is Brazil and Iran who hold this title with an average age of close to 29 years.
Until Qatar 2022, the youngest team in the history of the Spanish national team had been Vicente del Bosque’s team in 2010. The team that won the World Cup in South Africa that took place that same year, led by Iker Casillas, had an average age of 26.3 years. From that team 12 years ago, the Blaugrana midfielder Sergi Busquets is the only player who remains among those chosen to make up the squad for this edition, marked by the entry of a new generation of footballers.
The average age of the Spanish team this year sinks compared to other years because Luis Enrique has designed a team that had, until yesterday, eight players under 22 years of age. Today there are nine, after Gayá’s injury during training that has led to the incorporation of Balde in extremis.
The youngest is Gavi, 18, followed by Pedri and Balde himself, 19, and Yeremi Pino, Nico Williams and Ansu Fati, all 20. Eric Garcia, 21, Hugo Guillamón and Ferran Torres, both 22, complete the group of players born after 2000.
Youth does not define performance but inexperience does. There are only six players in the squad with World Cup matches behind them: Busquets, Jordi Alba, Carvajal, Koke, Azpilicueta and Asensio. Instead, seven of those selected have played less than ten games with Spain. They are the substitute goalkeepers, David Raya and Robert Sánchez, the forwards Williams and Ansu Fati, the defender Guillamón, the midfielder Yeremi Pino and the defender Balde.
