African Starlet Eric Marshall Becomes 'The World's Youngest Footballer'?

Apr 8, 2021 - 05:25 pm

By David Kappel

African Starlet Eric Marshall Becomes 'The World's Youngest Footballer'?

An 11-year-old African starlet has made headlines after his club proclaimed him to be the "world's youngest footballer" ever to feature in a senior match.

Eric Godpower Marshall has been making waves on social media after featuring for Liberian 4th division side FC Gar'ou.

The young prodigy was labelled the "world's youngest footballer" by his club after he featured in his third senior fixture in a 4-1 victory over Haifa FC, with Dutch scouts reportedly watching the game.

— Football Club Gar'ou (@club_gar) April 6, 2021

While the club's social media accounts have continued to post highlights of the youngster playing among men, questions have been raised as to whether it is beneficial to his career to be playing among much older footballers.

You should consider scale! An 11yo should be playing 7v7 max and working up to solve bigger problems later. Playing men 11v11 is not the best situation IMO.
— Scoutsourced (@scoutsourced) April 7, 2021

The record for the world's youngest footballer to play in an official match is held by Mauricio Baldivieso, who featured for Bolivian side Club Aurora as a 12-year-old.

He was brought on as a substitute by his father, who coached the side at the time, in a match against La Paz on 19 July 2009, just a few days short of his 13th birthday.

However, his career has not panned out as his father will probably have hoped, with Mauricio having been without a club since 2018 after featuring for six different teams in the years since his senior debut.