Martin Odegaard clings onto record as 15-year-old makes international debut

Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard has held on to his record of being the youngest ever professional player to make his international debut.

The Norwegian international still holds the record after Enes Sali made his debut for Romania on Sunday, aged 15 years and 264 days.

The Farul Constanta player made his debut with eight minutes remaining of his nation's World Cup qualification victory over Liechtenstein on Sunday.

Despite his remarkably tender age, Sali was 11 days older than Odegaard when he made his international bow for Norway against the United Arab Emirates in Stavanger on 19 August 2014.

Remarkably, Odegaard played the entire 90 minutes of that game, despite being aged just 15 years and 253 days at the time.

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However, Sali has surpassed Odegaard's record of youthfulness for a competitive match as the current Gunners playmaker debuted in a friendly.

Odegaard, now aged 22, did make his competitive debut for Norway 47 days after that friendly against the UAE when he replaced Mats Moller Dæhli in the 64th minute of a 2-1 home win over Bulgaria in a qualification match for Euro 2016.

On 29 March 2015, Odegaard - who has now won 36 caps and is Norway's captain - became the youngest player to start a European Championship qualifier at the age of 16 years and 101 days in a 5-1 loss to Croatia.

Enes Sali made his debut for Romania on Sunday as the nation won the race to secure his long-term international future.

The 15-year-old was born in Toronto, Canada, while he had also been wanted by Turkey - where both of his parents, who met in Romania, were originally born.

In 2019, Sali's father moved back to Romania with his son, and he has made eight appearances for Farul Constanta, scoring once.

The attacking midfielder is the youngest player to score in the Romanian top flight (aged 15 years, six months and 21 days) having made his senior club debut the previous month.

Born in February 2006, the youngster has previously enjoyed a trial period at Barcelona 's La Masia academy and is tipped for a hugely exciting career in the game.

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Barcelona scouts - who are quite active in Canada - noticed him playing for Woodbridge Strikers back in 2015 and he went on a trial with the club, aged nine.

The Catalan giants had intended to sign him but ran into difficulties due to enforced FIFA rules over the international transfers of young players.

Romanian sports fans have been frustrated in recent times as tennis stars Emma Raducanu and Bianca Andreescu represent other nations on the biggest stage, hence their intent on securing Sali's future in their football setup.