The match between Liechtenstein and Romania in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers for the European Zone at the Rheinpark Stadium, Monday (15/11/2021), set a new record. Romania’s Enes Sali became the youngest European player to appear in an international match.
Enes Sali came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute of the second half, a match which ended in a 2-0 win for Romania. The FCV Farul player is 15 years, 8 months and 22 days old. Enes Sali beat the previous record of 15 years and 300 days held by Martin Odegaard when he appeared for Norway in 2014.
In addition to being the youngest European player to appear in an international match, Enes Sali is also the youngest player in the history of the Romanian national team. Before making a record with the Romanian national team, Sali first registered his name in the Romanian football history book. Sali became the youngest ever goalscorer in the country’s top competition.
Profile of Enes Sali Enes
Sali is a player born in Toronto, February 23, 2006. Sali has participated in the selection at the Barcelona football academy from 2017 to 2018 for trials. He was able to take a trial at Barca’s football academy thanks to Barcelona’s talent scouts in Canada at the time.
Sali’s appearance at that time even impressed the academy coach with his skills in processing the ball. Even though he only briefly studied at Barcelona’s football academy, Sali admitted that he learned a lot from Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Andres Iniesta at that time.
“Messi, Neymar and Andres Iniesta taught me a lot. They told me to be confident,” recalls Salie. Barcelona are basically very interested in Sali, even the club nicknamed the Blaugrana wants to sign him. However, Barca could not do so due to legal and bureaucratic difficulties.
Moreover, Sali was still young at that time and FIFA was very strict on the transfer of underage players. As Barcelona cannot sign underage players due to FIFA’s strict rules, the player’s family is looking for a new path. Sali also joined Academia Hagi in 2018. After studying at Academia Hagi for three years, Sali moved to FCV Farul, a club that appears in the top competition of the Romanian League.
