EURO countdown (1 day to go) – The youngest and the oldest players of the tournament

The upcoming EURO 2020 will host a number of young players, some of whom will just sit on the bench and soak up the atmosphere, while others will end up being either 90-minute regulars or impact subs. The same will be with the 'grandpas' of the tournament, the oldest players. Some of them will be key players for their teams (Pandev 37, Pepe 38), while others will probably be on the bench, waiting for the last minutes of their international career.

But let’s look who are the youngest and the oldest players of the tournament, and we’ll start with the kids.

Kacper Kozlowski (Poland 17 years and 128 days), or the Polish „Pogba“ is officially the youngest player in EURO 2020. The midfielder was called to Poland for the first time last March and made it to the last 26. Now he has a chance to officially become the youngest player ever, as the current record holder Jetro Willems was 18 years old when he debuted for the Netherlands in 2012.

Jude Bellingham (England, 17 years and 346 days) is another gem signed cleverly by Borussia Dortmund from Birmingham City. After a great campaign in Bundesliga and Champions League, where he received the highest rates from Pep Guardiola himself, the youngest England international will surely feature in some capacity in this tournament. He was excellent in England's 1-0 victory over Austria, and with Jordan Henderson's fitness concerns, it’s likely that he will be introduced during EURO.

Jamal Musiala (Germany, 18 years and 104 days) is another future star of Bayern Munich, where he featured during the season, regardless of the strong competition for the place in the starting 11. His father is British-Nigerian and he moved to England with his family aged seven. He has represented both Germany and England at the youth level too, but after switching Chelsea for Bayern in 2019, he committed his international future to Germany in February. Coach Joakim Lew hurried to give him a full Germany debut in a World Cup qualifier against Iceland and tie him for the Germans forever.

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Pedri Lopez (Spain, 18 years and 168 days) joined Barcelona last year from Las Palmas and is considered one of the most prosperous teenagers in the world. Pedri was a regular with coach Ronald Koeman last season and debuted for Spain in a World Cup qualifier against Greece in March. Pedri plays in an advanced midfield role similar to club legend Andres Iniesta. He is the future of Spain. 

Illia Zabarnyi and Heorhii Sudakov (Ukraine, 18 years and 282 days) are not twins, but they were born on the same day and they are playing for two of Ukraine’s biggest clubs (and rivals): Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv. That’s all you need to know about them at the moment.

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OK, we identified the young ones, but who is the „grandpa“ of the tournament? Usually, it’s the goalkeepers, but this time, only two of them are in the top five. Let’s begin.

Pepe (Portugal, 38 years, 101 days) – the Portuguese legend still plays, in fact, he was a regular this season with Porto in the Champions League when they knocked out Juventus. The former Real defender has been a key player in defense for the team since 2008 and was involved in 2016 Euro and 2019 UEFA Nations League title wins. Pepe already has earned 114 caps and there is more to come.

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Maarten Stekelenburg (Netherlands, 38 years, 258 days) is one of the two goalkeepers among the top five. He has 58 national caps so far, but he is yet to find out if he will be the number 1, or will be behind Tim Krul and Marc Bizot.

Craig Gordon (Scotland, 38 years, 158 days) is one of the most appreciated squad members since he saved the penalty in the qualifiers shootout against Serbia. The outfit managed to qualify for their first major international tournament since 1998. Gordon kept 13 clean sheets in 26 league games last season.

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Goran Pandev (North Macedonia, 37 years, 315 days) is the captain of the North Macedonia national team and was influential in their EURO qualifications. The former Inter Milan player is a Serie A veteran and he will be a key player for the Macedonians.

Yuri Zhirkov (Russia, 37 years, 297 days) is still influential and plays regularly for the Russians. The former Chelsea winger is playing for Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg and will try everything to sing off his international career with a deep run into the tournament.

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Looking at whole squads, Spain has the youngest team at the tournament, with an average age of only 24.1 years. Among the Spaniards, Barcelona teenager Perdi is the youngest at 18 years of age, while his Barca teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba are the oldest players in the squad at age 32. The second youngest team is Turkey with an average 24.6 years (the youngest being Orkun Kokcu - 19), and the third is English, with Jude Bellingham being the youngest player in Southgate’s squad with only 17.

On the opposite side is Belgium as the oldest selection at the tournament, with 28.7 years and 1300+ national caps among players.

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And in the end, let’s not forget that many famous footballers participated in EURO’s as teenagers, and even played significant roles.

Kingsley Coman, 19 years and 362 days (France) – UEFA EURO 2016

Wayne Rooney, 18 years and 231 days (England) – UEFA EURO 2004

Cristiano Ronaldo, 19 years and 127 days (Portugal) – UEFA EURO 2004

Patrick Kluivert, 19 years and 342 days (Netherlands) – EURO '96

Jetro Willems (©AFP)

The Netherlands' Jetro Willems remains the youngest player to appear at a EURO, taking the field against Denmark in 2012 aged 18 years and 71 days, while Belgium’s Enzo Scifo holds the second position with 18 years and 115 days (EURO 1984).

As for the oldest players, Hungarian keeper Gabor Kiraly (40 years and 86 days) is the oldest player ever to feature in EURO’s (it was 2016), when he finished his appearance with a 4-0 defeat to Belgium. The oldest outfield player ever was Germany legend Lothar Matthaus who was 39 years and 91 days old against Portugal in 2000. Ivica Vastic (38 years and 257 days) was the oldest player to score in EURO’s when he came off the bench with 26 minutes left against Poland in a UEFA EURO 2008 group game and salvaged a 1-1 draw for Austria.