July 19, 2026, MetLife Stadium, New Jersey. Extra time is over, Spain have beaten Argentina 1-0, and they are champions of the world. His teammates are celebrating. Lamine Yamal walks away from them, over to Lionel Messi, and hugs him.
You know why that hug hit the way it did. September 2007, the Camp Nou dressing room, a plastic tub. A 20-year-old Messi holding a baby and giving him a bath for a charity calendar. The baby was Lamine.
He got to that final after a season in which, at 18, he scored 24 goals in all competitions, Barça won La Liga again, and he was named the league's Player of the Season. Most people who know his name know the Messi photo. Fewer know the neighborhood behind it.
The raffle
The photo only exists because of a raffle. In 2007 the Barcelona newspaper Sport and UNICEF put together a charity calendar with the Barça players. Families in Mataró, a coastal city about 30 kilometers north of Barcelona, could enter to take part. Yamal's mother, Sheila Ebana, won.
The man behind the camera was Joan Monfort, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press. He did not even remember taking the pictures. Then, during Euro 2024, Yamal's father posted one of them on social media, and it went around the world.
Before the 2026 final, Monfort was asked who he wanted to win. He said he did not know.
"I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts."
Joan Monfort, the photographer, to the Associated Press, July 2026
304
Yamal was born on July 13, 2007, in Esplugues de Llobregat, outside Barcelona. His father, Mounir Nasraoui, is from Morocco. His mother is from Equatorial Guinea. His parents separated, and he spent his early years between Mataró and nearby Granollers. His grandmother, who came to Spain from Morocco, lives in Rocafonda, a working-class neighborhood of Mataró with a large immigrant population.
Rocafonda is where he played for hours, on a small concrete slab beside two fenced fields. Its postal code is 08304. So every time he scores and makes a 3, a 0 and a 4 with his hands, that is Rocafonda he is holding up.
His first club was La Torreta. He played against boys two and three years older and led his team to a league title. The man who runs the club's football program remembers that when other kids cried for their mothers, Yamal only wanted to play.
"Lots of kids can at one given moment score a great goal or do something special, but he did it in every single game."
Inocente Díez, La Torreta, to the Associated Press, July 2024
La Masia
A Barça scout found him, and he joined the club at seven. Before practice, his father would take him to a bar in Rocafonda for breakfast, and then came the 90-minute trip into Barcelona. At 13 he moved into the academy residence at La Masia.
From there it went fast. On April 29, 2023, at 15, he made his Barcelona debut. That September, at 16, he scored on his Spain debut against Georgia, the youngest player and the youngest scorer in the national team's history. The next summer, at 17, he won Euro 2024.
In 2024-25 Barça won the league, the Copa del Rey and the Super Cup. That September he finished second in the Ballon d'Or, behind Ousmane Dembélé.
The hamstring
In 2025-26 he scored 16 league goals, and 24 in 45 games in all competitions. Then, in late April, in a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo, he scored a penalty and pulled up holding his left hamstring. Barcelona said he would miss the rest of the season. They won the title without him, finishing on 94 points.
The next question was whether he would make the World Cup. He did. In Spain's opener, a 0-0 draw with Cape Verde, he came on in the 70th minute.
On June 21, in Atlanta, Spain played Saudi Arabia. Before the game, Saudi fans in the streets had chanted where is Yamal. In his first start of the tournament he scored about ten minutes in, and Spain won 4-0. Afterward he posted two words on Instagram: I'm here.
The final
Then the final. Argentina's Enzo Fernández was sent off with a second yellow in second-half stoppage time. In extra time, in the 106th minute, Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the night.
Six days after turning 19, Yamal had a World Cup to go with his Euro. And the first thing he did with it was go and find Messi.
London
On October 26, the Ballon d'Or will be handed out in London for the first time, and he goes in as one of the leading candidates. Last time, he finished second.
In September he was asked whether he would campaign for it. He said he was proud of his season and would leave the decision to others. The baby from the calendar, the kid from 304, put it his own way.
GAMECHANGER™"I will not beg for anything."
Lamine Yamal, on the Ballon d'Or, September 2026
Reporting draws on the Associated Press, AFP, LaLiga, beIN Sports, Al Jazeera, FC Barcelona, Khaleej Times, Gulf News, TNT Sports, Ahram Online, Football Espana and Wikipedia's documented record of his career.
Sources (15)
AP via FOX 5 San Diego: World Cup destiny? Messi bathed Yamal as a baby · AP via ClickOrlando: Spain beats Argentina 1-0 in extra time on Ferran Torres' 106th-minute goal · Khaleej Times: Lamine Yamal comforts Lionel Messi after Spain's World Cup victory · Gulf News: Emotional embrace between Messi and Yamal captures hearts · LaLiga: Lamine Yamal, EA Sports LaLiga Player of the Season 2025-26 · IBTimes: Lamine Yamal LaLiga Player of the Season 2025-26 · beIN Sports: Lamine Yamal ruled out for rest of the season · FC Barcelona: Lamine Yamal does it again · Al Jazeera: Lamine Yamal dazzles with World Cup goal · AP via Click2Houston: Yamal's hometown, family and friends not surprised · eNCA (AFP): Yamal's hometown buzzing over teen's Euro success · Football Espana: Lamine Yamal's celebration explained · TNT Sports: Ousmane Dembélé wins 2025 Ballon d'Or ahead of Lamine Yamal · beIN Sports: Ballon d'Or 2026 nominees announcement date revealed · Ahram Online: Yamal on the Ballon d'Or, 'I will not beg for anything'