Da'vian Kimbrough has made history in American soccer by becoming the youngest-ever professional player in the United States at 13 years of age.
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Signed professional contract in AugustIntroduced off the bench for senior bowRewritten the history books in the StatesWHAT HAPPENED?
The talented teenager rewrote the record books when making his senior debut for Sacramento Republic FC on Sunday against Las Vegas Lights FC. He was handed three minutes off the bench in that contest at the age of 13 years, five months and 13 days.
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Kimbrough was tied to a professional contract on August 9, making him the youngest player to pen such terms in the history of U.S. soccer. He broke the records held by Maximo Carrizo in the men’s game – who signed with New York City FC at 14 – and Melanie Barcenas in the women’s ranks – who was 15 years, four months and 19 days old when committing to the San Diego Wave.
DID YOU KNOW?
The record for youngest debutant in the American game was previously held by Axel Kei, who made his bow for Real Monarchs SLC on a USL Academy contract in 2021 at 13 years, nine months and nine days. Kimbrough has now figured in USL himself, with a cameo appearance made in a 2-0 win for Sacramento.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
While there are high hopes for Kimbrough, he is not the first American prodigy to burst onto the scene – with Freddy Adu among the most infamous in recent times – and Sacramento president Todd Dunivant has told of handling another precociously-gifted youngster with care: “There’s no need to heap that kind of pressure on him. This is not somebody we’ll be leaning upon to start games when he’s 13 and a half or 14 — it’ll be when he’s ready. We will ramp it up in the right way that makes sense. The pressure (Adu was under) is not fair to anyone at that age, and we won’t put that on Da’vian. He is going to go at his pace, and it’s our job as a club to set him up for that through a development plan that continues to challenge him in the right way and puts him in positions to succeed. There’s always going to be setbacks, and we have to be cognizant of all of it. He’ll be one of the guys, and after getting his feet wet, it’s about understanding that he’s there to do a job. It’s not just the young kid. If he’s good enough, he’s old enough.”