Lucas Paul Knecht (born 30 March 1993) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player 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 ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, before moving to America to study at the

Georgia Southwestern State University Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) is a public university in Americus, Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia and offers bachelor's degree programs along with selected master's and specialist degree programs. History G ...

, playing for the Hurricanes soccer team. He made 8 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 football section. History Foundation to WW2 The cl ...

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; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

debut aged just 14 years and 2 days against

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

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 structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

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 football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging countries" in the now de ...

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knecht, Lucas Living people Northern Mariana Islands footballers Northern Mariana Islands men's international footballers 1993 births Men's association football defenders