Who is the youngest-ever professional footballer?
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Unless any of the great Knowledge populace knows better, then yes, yes he is Pete. In case you missed the story, Mauricio Baldivieso, a striker for Aurora in the Bolivian league, was sent on as a 39th-minute substitute in a first division match against La Paz on Sunday, three days before his 13th birthday – which is today, incidentally.
Although it reportedly all ended in tears, the result of some rough marking from the La Paz defence, the player's coach, the former Bolivia midfielder Julio Cesar Baldivieso (also the player's father) offered the following impartial assessment of his son's ability: "I'm very proud, he's got a lot of talent."
According to reports in South America, Baldivieso beat a record set by Peru's Fernando Garcia, who turned out for Juan Aurich in 2001 aged 13. It is, however, all but impossible to verify the age of some other whipper-snappers who may have bounded out in the men's game before their voices had broken.
The former Manchester United player Souleymane Mamam, for instance, is still listed by Fifa as the youngest-ever player in a World Cup qualifying match, supposedly aged 13 years and 310 days when he appeared for Togo against Zambia in May 2001. Presumably this was not his senior debut, meaning it's possible he was close to Baldivieso's age when he first stepped out, although question marks have continued to hover over Maman's claims throughout his career. When he appeared for Royal Antwerp on loan from United, for instance, the club listed his year of birth as 1985, meaning he was at least 16 at the time of the Togo-Zambia match.
The Ghana-born United States international Freddy Adu first attracted the attentions of the Washington Post when he was but 12 years old, and there was much Adu in Sports Illustrated in 2003, when the striker was 13. He had to wait until 14 to sign a professional contract at DC United, however, and was two months shy of 15 when he made his full debut.
That makes Adu barely younger than the youngest-ever verified league player in this country: the Barnsley striker Reuben Noble-Lazarus, who was 15 years 45 days old when he appeared against Ipswich Town last September. As for the English top flight, Fulham's defender Matthew Briggs is the youngest ever to grace the Premier League turf. He was 16 years and 65 days old when he came on as a substitute in May 2007, but has yet to make a first-team appearance since.
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BUENOS AIRES, July 20 (Reuters) - A 12-year-old boy made his first division debut in Bolivia, the youngest ever in South America, and strikers called Gutierrez scored hat-tricks in Chile and Colombia at the weekend.BOLIVIAMauricio Baldivieso, who turns 13 on Wednesday, came on as a substitute for the last nine minutes of Aurora's match away to La Paz, a 1-0 defeat, in the Clausura championship at the weekend."I'm very proud, he's got a lot of talent," said the boy's father, Aurora coach and Bolivian 1994 World Cup midfielder Julio Cesar Baldivieso.Baldivieso senior, in the stands serving a suspension, was much less happy though with the rough marking by Henry Alaca that left his son in tears, calling the defender a criminal and slamming the referee for not booking him.Media in Bolivia and neighbouring countries said the previous youngest debutant in South American football was Peruvian Fernando Garcia, who was just short of his 14th birthday in 2001.La Paz, who scored with an own goal by Ivan Huayhuata after half an hour, had Juan Pablo Fernandez sent off in the 62nd minute and Aurora's Joe Escobar followed him to an early shower five minutes later.On the first weekend of the Clausura championship, Apertura champions Bolivar beat Nacional Potosi 3-2, while The Strongest held runners-up Real Potosi 1-1.Argentine central defender Alejandro Schiaparelli put Bolivar ahead after 20 minutes and Jair Reynoso and Ignacio Garcia scored further goals in the second half after Alfredo Jara twice pulled Nacional level.Alex da Rosa scored twice in nine minutes in the first half and Damir Miranda two in seven minutes in the second to give 10-man San Jose a 4-0 victory over Blooming.San Jose, who were third in the Apertura, had Alvaro Ricaldi sent off in the 52nd minute.CHILEArgentine Enzo Gutierrez scored a hat-trick as Rangers, who finished one from bottom of the Apertura championship, upset Universidad de Chile 5-3 on new Argentine coach Jose Basualdo's Clausura debut.Universidad's Uruguayan striker Juan Olivera scored twice, a penalty and a superb volley, as the champions fought their way back to level terms before Gutierrez completed his hat-trick on the hour to put Rangers 4-3 up.The dismissals of Rodrigo Rivera and Rodrigo Jara for second bookings between the 73rd and 78th minutes allowed Rangers to make sure of the points with a fifth goal by Pablo Vranjican in stoppage time.Basualdo's compatriot Hugo Tocalli got his first win in charge of Colo Colo, who beat La Serena 2-1, but Argentine-born former Spanish international striker Juan Antonio Pizzi, who succeeded Basualdo at Santiago Morning, saw his side lose 1-0 at home to Audax Italiano.COLOMBIAThere was also a hat-trick in the Colombian Clausura championship, scored by Chilean Julio Gutierrez whose Independiente Santa Fe side beat Boyaca Chico 4-2, playing against 10 men from the 14th minute.Santa Fe took control from the start and Chico's Johan Caicedo quickly landed himself in trouble with two bookings for a red card before Gutierrez gave the home side a 1-0 halftime lead.Chico managed to turn the score round early in the second half with a free kick by Ever Palacios and a Julio Galicia goal after Yovanni Arrechea missed a twice-taken penalty for Santa Fe.However, Gutierrez equalised in the 66th minute and Omar Perez added a penalty for a foul on the Chilean.Galicia was sent off for a second booking in the 84th minute, leaving Chico with nine men, and Gutierrez completed his hat-trick in the final minute.Apertura champions Once Caldas had Peru striker Johan Fano and John Viafara sent off between the 71st and 77th minutes and went down 2-1 away to La Equidad.PERUUniversitario are four points clear in the lead of the Peruvian championship after a 1-1 draw with Sporting Cristal following bitter rivals Alianza's 1-0 home defeat by 10-man San Martin.San Martin had Jorge Reyes sent off after only 19 minutes and Christian Ramos headed the winner nine minutes from time.Sport Huancayo, who beat Cesar Vallejo 3-2, and Juan Aurich, 2-0 winners against Bolognesi, are both four points behind the leaders. Alianza and San Martin are seven points off the pace.ECUADORFirst stage winners Emelec and runners-up LDU Quito were held to home draws at the start of the second phase of the championship, Emelec 1-1 by Manta FC and LDU 2-2 by Cuenca.URUGUAYStriker Alvaro Navarro scored a hat-trick as Defensor Sporting got over the loss of the 2008/09 championship final to Nacional last week with a 3-0 win over River Plate in the six-team round-robin playoffs for berths in the 2010 Libertadores Cup.
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rofl i just saw the vid of his debut.
12 year old already know how to act like kanna shot.
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his father, the coach taught him lor lol
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