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Five days after he turned 15, Lion City Sailors (LCS)'s Nathan Mao made his professional debut in the Singapore Premier League (SPL), becoming the youngest-ever footballer to do so.
The record was previously held by Young Lions' Raoul Suhaimi, who debuted at 15 years and 239 days old.
Made his debut against Tampines Rovers
Mao, who is a Secondary 3 student, made his debut on Mar. 31 evening when his team went against Tampines Rovers at Our Tampines Hub.
Image via Lion City Sailors.
Image via Lion City Sailors.
Mao came in as a substitute for forward Shawal Anuar around the 89th minute.
Despite having only a few minutes on the field, Mao left quite an impression.
In the 94th minute, he was fouled by Rovers defender Miloš Zlatković, which angered fellow LCS teammate Maxime Lestienne.
A slight scuffle unfolded, with the LCS players coming to defend their youngest teammate.
The Sailors, however, suffered a 4-3 defeat to the current league leaders.
Here are the highlights from the game:
LCS is now third on the SPL table, while Rovers remain at the top.
Has been part of the LCS academy
According to SPL, Mao has been part of the LCS Academy since its rebrand in June 2020.
Mao is also part of the club's under-21 team.
In November 2021, while he was in the LCS Academy under-14 Elite squad, Mao was sent abroad for a six-week Europe training camp in Germany and the Netherlands.
He was sent overseas again in October 2022 to embark on a 16-day training stint at the renowned Feyenoord Rotterdam Academy.
In a 2021 video for LCS, Mao said he has been playing football since he was four years old as his entire family is "really crazy about football".
Top images via Lion City Sailors/Twitter.