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Fortune
Fortune
Emma Burleigh

Lamine Yamal is the third-youngest World Cup finalist—and he was scouted from his working-class neighborhood at just 6 years old

Lamine Yamal #19 of Spain (Credit: Julian Finney - FIFA / Contributor / Getty Images)

This Sunday, millions of soccer fans across the globe will be glued to their screens watching Spain and Argentina battle for the World Cup title. And Spain’s 19-year-old superstar, Lamine Yamal, will become the tournament’s third-youngest finalist. Just a few years ago, Yamal was a teenager growing up in Spain’s working-class neighborhood of Rocafonda; he’s been training for this day since he was scouted at six years old.

“Look, my mum had me when she was 16,” Yamal recently said during an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena SER. “My dad also had to go out and look for a life, sometimes picking up stuff in the streets to try to come back home with food for us. To me, this is real pressure, not what I have.”

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