Kids

Children and Football: The History of Academies, Youth World Cups and Young Prodigies

Every great career begins on a school pitch or in a neighbourhood yard. From the first school championships to world-famous academies, from the young Pelé to Lamine Yamal, the history of football is also the history of its children.

1. Football Born in Schools (Nineteenth Century)

Modern football was born in the English schools and universities of the nineteenth century, where each institution played its own rules. The Football Association was founded in 1863 precisely to unify them. School football then became organised, and youth competitions multiplied across Europe and South America, where street football shaped generations of dribblers.

2. The Great Academies (1950–1990)

In the twentieth century clubs realised that their future depended on youth development. Manchester United's "Busby Babes" in the 1950s, then Ajax Amsterdam and their De Toekomst ("The Future") centre, laid the foundations. In 1979 FC Barcelona opened La Masia, which would produce Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and later Lamine Yamal. In France, the National Football Institute at Clairefontaine, opened in 1988, developed players including Thierry Henry and Kylian Mbappé.

3. Youth World Cups (1977–2025)

FIFA created the World Youth Championship for Under-20s in 1977, then the Under-16 tournament in 1985, later Under-17. These competitions revealed Diego Maradona, Under-20 world champion in 1979, Lionel Messi in 2005 and Portugal's golden generation. Nigeria hold the record of five Under-17 titles, and in October 2025 Morocco won the Under-20 World Cup in Chile by beating Argentina: the first FIFA world title in their history.

4. Young Prodigies Who Made History

In 1958 Pelé became a world champion at seventeen, scoring in the final. At Euro 2024, sixteen-year-old Lamine Yamal became the youngest scorer in the competition's history and won the title with Spain. Two years later, at the 2026 World Cup, his team-mate Pau Cubarsí, a La Masia-trained defender, received the Best Young Player award at the tournament won by Spain.

5. The Shirt, a Child's First Dream

Since the first fan shirts were offered to supporters in the late 1970s, wearing the shirt of one's club or country has become one of young fans' first acts of belonging. Children's kits now reproduce the professionals' designs, with cuts adapted to young players' comfort and movement.

6. Today and Tomorrow

Football remains the most widely played sport among children worldwide. The academies of the great clubs, national centres and thousands of grassroots clubs develop the champions of tomorrow every season — those who may lift the 2030 World Cup, the centenary edition.