5 youngest European football teams in 2020

#3: Codru Lozova (20.8 years)

Moldavan football club Codru Lozova is currently at the very bottom of their league, with no wins and 29 goals conceded in their first seven games.

Due to reconstruction work at their stadium, they did not get a license to play their first few games there, and their home matches were recheduled to a later part of the season. As a result, they started the season with seven away games."

So it is quite an unusual look as Codru Lozova are yet to have a home game after seven matchdays.

In 2018, for the first time in their modest history (they were founded in 2008), Codru Lozova got promoted to the Moldovan top division. They didn't get a single win in 2019 and finished last with only five points.

Although Codru Lozova recorded their worst league record since 2004, they weren't relegated. That was because the Moldovan football league expanded to ten teams in 2020, and the last positioned team in 2019 had to play a relegation play-off match.

Codru Lozova managed to win that game by scoring at the fag end of the match. It was their first win in over four months, and bizarrely they managed to keep their position in the Moldovan top division.

#2: FC Zimbru Chisinau (20.7 years)

Zimbru Chisinau is another young Moldovan football club. Just like Codru Lozova, Zimbru Chisinau aren't setting the light out in Moldova this season.

They are currently second to last in the country's top league and haven't finished higher than fifth place since 2016. Codru Lozova won their last two trophies in 2014 - domestic Cup and Supercup.

However, they have had a rich history in Moldovan football. Zimbru Chisinau haven't been relegated from the top division since it was established after Moldova became an independent country.

They were a dominant force at the start, winning the Moldovan league title eight times in the first nine years of the competition. Only one other club has won the league title multiple times, making Zimbru Chisinau the second most successful club in Moldova since independence.

In the last three years, Zimbru Chisinau have gradually become younger, currently regularly playing at least five different players under the age of 18.

At the start of July, Zimbru Chisinau lined up with a starting lineup that had an average age of 19.2 years, which is the lowest in Moldova since 2017 (the first year when transfermarkt.com started collecting this data).

#1: FK Metta (19.9 years)

By a comfortable margin, the Latvian football club Metta is the youngest in European football leagues. They have been the only club in the last three years who have had a team averaging below 20 years.

The club is renowned for promoting young players. Metta's football academy has been recognised by the Latvian Football Federation as the country's best for four years in a row.

What sets Metta apart from other football clubs is how much they care about the future of their youngsters. They have had a partnership with Latvia's University since the club's early days, a reason why fans often call Metta students.

Since the football club was formed in 2006, Metta haven't seen major success in Latvia. In 2011, they won the Latvian first league (second tier) and haven't looked back. Since 2014, Metta have been the youngest football side in Virsliga (top tier) every year.

It is a very exciting time to follow Metta. It has been 13 years since the Riga football club introduced 'Football classes', a new way of teaching football to kids. Boys who arrived under this programme in the first few years are now starting to get introduced in Metta's first team.

Edited by Bhargav