The Historic Social Media Rise of Spain's Lamine Yamal

When I was 17-year old, I was applying to colleges all over the US, watching movies like “Pineapple Express” and “Jumper” and trying to pass my Spanish language final.

While I was learning Spanish, Spain’s Lamine Yamal was living large and playing amazing soccer or “futbol” (depending on your preference) on the world’s top stage at the Euros.

In 7 games, Yamal scored 1 goal (the youngest scorer in the competition's history) and 4 assists (including a goal in the final vs. England).

Here are highlights from the Euros:

He was named UEFA EURO 2024 Young Player of the Tournament and became the youngest player to win the Euros.

He’s got an incredible story to him as well:

Born in Esplugues de Llobregat in Barcelona to waitress Sheila Ebana and building painter Mounir Nasraoui. Yamal's mother was born in Equatorial Guinea, and his father is from Morocco.

At six years of age, Yamal was scouted by FC Barcelona and was invited to training sessions at La Masia, signing for the club in 2014, when he was 7 years old and moving to Barcelona to live and train at the academy.

Yamal earned his first start for FC Barcelona first team on August 20, 2023. Not too long after his 16th birthday. He has scored 5 goals in 38 appearances for Barça.

What happened to his Instagram following before/after the Euros:

Yamal started the tournament with 7 million followers before the tournament in mid-June.

Today, just over a month later, Yamal has 18 million followers! It’s no Messi, Ronaldo or Mbappe, but it is pretty incredible for a 17-year-old (who is super gifted in soccer).

He just had 8.5 million likes on his recent IG post 👀

Also, he’s got over 10 million followers on TikTok.

Finally, he’s got nearly 700K followers on Twitter/X too:

Can’t wait to see how Yamal does for my favorite European club (I studied abroad in Barcelona in 2012 - when he was 5 years old).

The sky is the limit for Yamal!