Who is the FIFA World Cup's Youngest Player?

Former Northern Irish professional football player Norman Whiteside was a striker and midfielder. May 7, 1965, marked his birth.

Whiteside started his professional career at Manchester United, where he signed professional forms in 1982 at the age of 17 and quickly established himself as a key player. Over the course of the following seven years, he made 278 league and cup appearances for the club, amassing 68 goals while participating in the 1982 FA Youth Cup final, 1983 League Cup final, and 1983 FA Charity Shield. He also won two FA Cups in 1983 and 1985.

Up until July 1989, when he was traded to Everton for $600,000, he remained with United. However, he ended his playing career two years later, at the age of just 26, due to a knee injury.

He played at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups for Northern Ireland, earning 38 caps in the process. He also helped his nation win the final British Home Championship in 1983–84. He switched careers after his playing career ended and is still employed by Old Trafford’s corporate hospitality division as a podiatrist.

Norman Whiteside is the Person Behind the World Cup Record:

Before Spain in 1982, Whiteside had only participated in two club games.
He beat Pele’s record to become the youngest player to play in the World Cup.
Nobody anticipated a 17-year-old getting a ticket, but he did.

Uncapped Whiteside’s performances for Manchester United near the end of the 1981–1982 season quickly caught Billy Bingham’s attention. He was brave, skilled, and able to strike the ball with venom. Originally intending to bring the 17-year-old to Spain in 1982 as a member of the 22-man squad in order to give him some game time off the bench, 1958 World Cup veteran Bingham got more than he bargained for after witnessing Whiteside in action at that pre-tournament training camp.

I had no idea that I was going to play him, but I thought he might be someone to bring with me to Spain. He excelled in every practice game during the two weeks we spent training in Brighton, according to Bingham in 1986.”I decided he will join the first team by the end of the second week [of the training camp]. He had, in my perspective, the maturity of a player who was 26 years old at the age of 17.

The World Cup provided Whiteside with the most prestigious possible setting for his debut in the international arena following two senior club appearances for Ron Atkinson’s United. At the age of 17 years and 41 days, he made his debut against Yugoslavia in Zaragoza. In the tournament, the tenacious underdogs of Northern Ireland defied the odds to advance to the second round of the group stage, and Whiteside started each game, including the historic 1-0 victory over the host nation Spain in Valencia.

As the youngest participant in a FIFA World Cup, the youngest player to score in League Cup and FA Cup finals, and the youngest player to score a senior goal for Manchester United, Whiteside holds several records.

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