#10 He made his Wales debut at the age of just 16
Bale earned his first cap for the Wales national team when he was just 16 years old. It shows how highly he was regarded in the national setup as he had only played around 180 minutes of senior football at that point in time.
During his debut season for Southampton the previous year, he became the second youngest player to ever play for the Saints, behind only Theo Walcott.
He was included in the Wales squad at the end of the 2005/06 season for a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago. In that match, after being brought on in the 55th minute, he proceeded to assist the winning goal in a 2-1 victory.
At 16 years and 315 days, he became the youngest ever to play for the Dragons, a record that was broken by Liverpool’s Harry Wilson in 2012.
Feedback
