Many youngsters will be playing in the 2022 FIFA World Cup from 32 participating countries. For many years, these young players will be the pillar of their country's football future.
Among the vast number of young players, the top 10 players to watch are Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Rafael Leao, Gabi, Pedri, Christian Pulisic, Edward Camavinga, Ricardo Pepi, Phil Foden, and Vinicius Jr.
The football community will welcome these ten youngsters with open arms in this world cup. The fans, pundits, and their country will undoubtedly have high expectations from them since they have good exposure in significant football leagues and perform well in their respective clubs and some in their countries too.
Jude Bellingham - 19 yrs
Jude Bellingham is a 19 yr old Borussia Dortmund player and will be the key central midfielder for England.
He joined the youth team of Birmingham and ultimately joined the senior team in 2019. He just played one season and scored 4 goals in 41 games.
Born in 2003 in the market town of Stourbridge, England, he helped Birmingham to avoid relegation. To appreciate the youngster’s help, the club decided to retire his Jersey no, i.e. 22. He also won the Young player of the season.
The 19-year-old saw a meteoric rise in his career by transferring from Birmingham City to Borussia Dortmund. He has made a total of 76 appearances for Dortmund and scored 7 goals. His debut season in Dortmund saw the team winning the DFB pokal of the 2020-2021 season, marking his one of many successes to come in Germany.
In his international career, he has been involved with England for a long time, from joining the England U-15 team in 2016 in 2020; he was inducted into the senior team. Today, he has made 17 appearances for England.
Pedri - 19 yrs
Pedri is a 19 yr old player for FC Barcelona and Spain and plays as the central midfielder.
Born in Bjamar of Spain on 2002, he enrolled in Las Palmes for the youth team and climbed to the team’s senior team in 2019. After making 36 appearances and scoring 4 goals, he got an offer from Barcelona. After agreeing, he joined Barcelona and has been instrumental in their midfield ever since.
He has made 63 appearances so far for Barcelona and scored 9 goals. For his valiant midfield role, he was awarded the Golden Boy Award by the Italian newspaper, Tuttosport for being the best player in Europe under 21. He has also had the honor of achieving the Copa Del Ray title for Barca in the 2021-2021 season.
He joined the Spain U-17 team in 2017 and has progressed to the senior team quite fast. He scored just one goal for Spain when he was on the U-18 team. In the Euro 2020, he was included in the national team squad. He was declared the youngest player to represent Spain.
He played till the semi-finals and for his performance; he has voted the Young player of the tournament. As of November 16, 2022, he has just made 10 appearances for Spain’s national team.
Eduardo Camavinga - 20 yrs
Eduardo Camavinga is 20 yrs old youngster playing for Real Madrid and will be in France’s World Cup 2022 Squad.
He was born in 2002 in a refugee camp in Angola and his parents are from the African nation of Congo. His background makes him unique to France’s national team.
He joined the senior team of the French club Rennes in 2019. He made his debut on the 18th of August, making him the youngest player to play in Rennes' history.
He joined Real Madrid in 2021 and has made 40 appearances as a central midfielder and scored 2 goals. With Real Madrid; he has won the La Liga of 2021-22, UEFA Champions League of 2021-2022, and Super Cup 2022, making him quite an achiever.
He joined the U-17 French team after getting French citizenship and then after a year, he was included in the national team. He made his 1st start in a friendly match against Ukraine, scoring one goal. He has great potential to achieve greatness for France.
Vinicius Jr - 22 yrs
Vinicius Jr is the 22 yr old Brazilian youngster every football fans need to watch this World Cup 2022.
Born in Sao Goncalo, he has been a great winger playing for Real Madrid. He enrolled in the youth team of the Brazilian club, Flamengo in 2017. He was offered by Real Madrid to join the senior Real Madrid team for a record fee of €46 million, which he accepted.
He has made an astounding 131 appearances for Real and scored 31 goals. He has the honor of winning La Liga: 2019–2020 and 2021–222 with Real. He also bagged the UEFA Champions League: 2021–22 and 2022 Super Cup with his fellow teammate, Camavinga.
The 22 yr old joined the Brazil U-15 team in 2015 and successfully climbed the ranks to gain entry into Brazil’s senior team in 2019. He was included in the Copa America 2021 and played in the finals which Brazil lost to Argentina.
Gavi - 18 yrs
Gavi is the 18 yrs old youngster from Spain who plays for Barcelona and will be interesting to watch alongside Pedri.
He was born in Los Palacios y Villafranca on 2004. He enrolled in the youth team of La Liara in 2010 and joined Barcelona’s Youth in 2015.
Then in 2021, he got the opportunity to play for Barcelona’s senior team. So far, he plays as the central midfielder, has made 48 appearances, and has scored two goals.
The 18 yr old youngster joined the U-15 team in 2018, marking the start of his international career. In 2021, he was formally introduced to Spain’s national team and made 12 appearances.
He has excellent chemistry with his fellow Barca player, Pedri, which will help to elevate his performance in this World Cup too.
Phil Foden - 22 yrs
Phil Foden is the 22 yr old Manchester City player and is a valuable youngster for England in this World Cup.
He was born in 2000, in the town of Stockport, England. He has been playing for Manchester City’s senior team from 2017. So far, he has made 111 appearances and scored 31 goals. He has been successful in his club; racking the Premier League titles four times, recently in the 2021-2022 season and the FA Cup in 2018-2019.
The 22 yr old youngster started playing for England in 2015 from the U-16 team. In 2020, he joined the senior team of England and has made 18 appearances and scored 2 goals.
He has also got many individual awards, winning the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2017. He also received the PFA Young Player of the Year twice in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons consecutively He also was voted the Premier League Young Player for these two seasons.
Jamal Musiala - 19 yrs
Football fans will surely be interested to watch 19 yr old German Youngster Jamal Musiala in this World Cup 2022.
He was born in Stuttgart in 2003 and has been playing for the senior team of Bayern Munich since 2020. Currently, he has scored 20 goals for them and made 71 appearances. He got the honor of winning the Bundesliga title from 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons consecutively.
The 19 yr old youngster spent his international career in both the England and German teams. However, when it was time to choose the senior team, he decided to choose the country of his birth and so began his journey to become a rising star for Germany.
He was selected to be in the Euro 2020 and made the record of becoming the youngest player from Germany to play in a major tournament. He has already made 17 appearances and scored one goal in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers against Iceland.
Ricardo Pepi - 19 yrs
Many football fans in the USA will be eager to watch the performance of 19 yr old US youngster Ricardo Pepi.
Born in the city of El Paso, Texas, he joined the youth team of FC Dallas and then joined the senior team in 2019. He had a prolific run in MLS as a striker, making 55 appearances and scoring 15 goals.
He received the MLS All-star in 2021 and was also named the MLS’ Young player of the Year. In 2022, he got transferred to FC Augsberg and then got loaned to FC Groningen in just 1 year.
He has been on the United States team since 2018, joining the U-17 team and then joining the senior team in 2021. He has made 12 appearances and scored 3 goals in the senior team, scoring all 3 in 2021.
Christian Pulisic - 24 yrs
Christian Pulisic is a 24 yr old promising youngster for the US national team to watch in this World Cup 2022.
He made his first Bundesliga appearance through Borussia Dortmund in 2016, and then went on to become an important attacking midfielder for them. While in Dortmund, he won the DFB Pokal in 2016-17.
He transferred to Chelsea in 2019 and this made his career soar through the roof. He scored 20 goals in his 87 appearances for Chelsea. He achieved many trophies including the UEFA Champions League of 2020-2021 and the UEFA Super Cup of 2021.
His international career started when he joined the U-15 team of the USA. In 2016, he was called into the United States national team and has made many records with the USA; like becoming the youngest captain in 2018, and the youngest player to score in the World Cup qualifiers.
For his achievements, he has been awarded the U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year three times: in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
Rafael Leao - 23 yrs
Rafael Leao is a 23 yr old youngster that has the potential to perform well for his country in this World Cup.
Born in 1999 in Almada, Portugal, Rafael currently plays for AC Milan as a forward and has made 109 appearances for them and scored 29 goals.
He was in the AC Milan team that won the Serie A tile in 2021-2022, a title that AC Milan saw after many years of struggle. He was included in 2021–2022’s Serie A Team of the Year.
He joined the Portuguese U-16 team in 2015 and went to be called for the senior team in October 2021. So, far he has played friendly matches and the World Cup is going to be his first major tournament.
Many youngsters like Rafael Leao are surely going to be under the watchful eyes of both the fans and pundits, giving everyone a chance to look at the performance of these rising stars as they are the future of their countries.
