The Spanish national team is at risk of being heavily fined due to concerns over young star Lamine Yamal’s ability to play at Euro 2024.

Although in the “death” group B with Croatia and Italy, Spain quickly won a ticket to the round of 16 of Euro 2024 when they defeated both of these heavyweight opponents to get all 6 points after 2 matches.

Coach Luis de la Fuente can rest his key players in the final round of Group B of Euro 2024 when they only have to face Albania. However, the Spanish team is at risk of receiving a penalty from the knockout round.

Accordingly, this penalty is related to young star Lamine Yamal – the youngest player to play in Euro history (16 years, 338 days), who played well in the previous two matches against Croatia and Italy.

Lamine Yamal is the youngest player to play at Euro (Photo: Getty)

Specifically, according to German television station ZDF, the Spanish national team could be fined up to 30,000 euros for letting “prodigy” Lamine Yamal work at night.

It is known that German law stipulates that teenagers under 18 years old are not allowed to work after 8:00 p.m., including foreigners residing in Germany.

The case of the young Spanish national team star at Euro 2024 is that the athlete is exempted from the time extension until 23:00. However, Lamine Yamal is likely to still have to “work overtime” when the match in the knockout round of Euro 2024 will take place at 21:00 local time, which means it will end at 23:00.

Not to mention the matches where Spain had to play extra time or penalty shootouts, the end time was even later.

Spain national team faces punishment if they let 16-year-old star play

Legal expert Stephan Graf said the breach of the law would have no sporting consequences, meaning Yamal would not be suspended, but the Spanish national team could be fined up to 30,000 euros.

At only 16 years old, Lamine Yamal is still in high school. The image of the young Spanish national team star doing homework after 2 matches at Euro 2024 is causing a stir in the online community.

In a recent interview, Yamal shared: “If Spain reaches the Euro 2024 final, I will drop out of school to focus entirely on football. This is my biggest dream and I want to dedicate myself to achieving it.”