Lucas Paul Knecht (born 30 March 1993) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who holds the record as the youngest ever player in a men's international match. He made his debut for the Northern Mariana Islands national team aged 14 years and 2 days.

Early life

Knecht played youth soccer with MP United.

College career

Having already made his international debut, Knecht went on to study at the

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in N ...

in New Zealand, before moving to America to study at the

Georgia Southwestern State University Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) is a state public university in Americus, Georgia, United States. Founded as the Third District Agricultural and Mechanical School in 1906, the university was established and is administrated by the Ge ...

, playing for the Hurricanes soccer team. He made eight appearances during his time there, without scoring.

Club career

After leaving the

, it is unclear as to whether Knecht joined a club side, with some reports claiming he played for

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

outfit

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its Association football, football section. The footba ...

International career

He started playing youth international football with the Northern Mariana Islands when he was 13, being selected for a U14 tournament in Beijing, China. He played in Northern Mariana Islands men's first international soccer victory. Knecht holds the record for being the youngest ever male international footballer, when he made his

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States consistin ...

debut aged just 14 years and 2 days against

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

in a 9–0 defeat on 1 April 2007. Since then, he has made 11 appearances for the ''Blue Ayuyu''. He played in all three

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

as his nation failed to qualify for the

2014 AFC Challenge Cup The 2014 AFC Challenge Cup was the fifth and the final edition of the AFC Challenge Cup, an international Association football, football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging co ...

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knecht, Lucas Living people 1993 births 21st-century American sportsmen Northern Mariana Islands men's footballers Men's association football defenders Northern Mariana Islands men's international footballers People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School