Spain teen prodigy passes school exams at Euro
Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal is celebrating ahead of Spain‘s Euro 2024 round of 16 match against Georgia on Sunday after successfully passing his school exams.
Yamel, 16, received the good news at Spain’s training camp in the south of Germany, where he has been combining his education with representing his country at the tournament.
“I just came out of training and I’ve been told it all went well,” Yamal told Spanish radio station Onda Cero. “I passed the exams and I have the ESO qualification now.
“If I’m honest, I saw them on my phone and it said I had passed so I just closed the application, called my mum and told her.”
The results correspond to the fourth year of the ESO, which is the final stage of secondary education in Spain, roughly the equivalent to GCSE exams in the United Kingdom or the high school diploma in the United States.
Yamal, who will turn 17 the day before the Euro 2024 final, had revealed earlier in the tournament that he had brought his homework with him to the Euros.
“No,” he laughed in an interview with COPE when asked if his teammates were making sure he kept up with his school work. “I study on my own, but they make some jokes like ‘Go and study now. …’
“We have a lot of free time and when I am in my room with nothing to do, I grab the iPad and do some homework. And when Nico [Williams] and Fermín [López] call me to play Playstation, I go downstairs with them.”
Yamal became the youngest player to ever feature at the European Championship in Spain’s opener against Croatia at the age of 16 years and 338 days old.
He has featured in all three games for Spain at the tournament, helping them progress to the knockout stages as the only side with a 100% winning record. They meet Georgia in Cologne for a quarterfinal spot this weekend.
In total, he has earned 10 caps for his country, scoring two goals and laying on five assists in those appearances.
The teenager is also already a regular for his club side, Barça. He made 50 appearances for the Catalan side last season in all competitions.
