The World Cup has introduced a new sleet of soccer super stars to non-avid viewers of the sport, including Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham, but the last one that remains standing ahead of the final is Lamine Yamal.
The World Cup final on Sunday, July 19 makes for a hard-to-believe full circle moment for the soccer star, who has gone viral over a 2007 photo of a then-20-year-old Lionel Messi bathing the La Liga player when he was months old for a charity photo shoot.
At the fated final, the teenager will have his parents, who were themselves teenagers when they welcomed him, cheering him on from the stands. Learn all about them below.
Who are Lamine’s parents?
Lamine was born on July 13, 2007, near Barcelona, Spain, to his dad Mounir Nasraoui and his mom Sheila Ebana, both of whom are in their mid-30s.
Sheila is originally from Equatorial Guinea while Mounir is originally from Morocco, both of them arriving in Catalonia as children with their mothers. “The first to arrive was my grandmother, who sneaked onto the bus from Morocco and managed to get to Mataro,” Lamine said of his father’s mom on a 2025 appearance on the Resonancia de Corazón con José Ramón de la Morena podcast.
“She started working three shifts so my father could come because he stayed in Morocco, and when my grandmother made some money, she paid a woman to bring my father and his sister, who came when they were three,” he added.
© Getty ImagesLamine’s parents met and welcomed him as teenagers living in Barcelona, though they split when he was three years old, and he subsequently lived with his mom near the city of Granollers, which is a 30-minute drive north-east from Barcelona.
Sheila took a job at a fast food restaurant to support Lamine, according to The Athletic, before he joined Barcelona soccer club Barça’s famed La Masia academy when he was 12 years old, which led to his soccer debut just three years later.
© Getty Images“For me, she’s my queen and what I love the most,” he said of his mother on the Fundación José Ramón de la Morena podcast.
“I came from an apartment where the kitchen and bedroom were in the same place,” he also shared of his early childhood, adding: “[Now,] I see my mother happy, I see that my brother can have the childhood I would have wanted, and that’s what makes me happiest.”
© Getty ImagesBoth of Lamine’s parents have moved on to new relationships but remain friends
Something else Lamine has also gone viral for? His adorable, three-year-old little brother Keyne, who his mother welcomed with her new husband, and who makes frequent appearances on the stands to support his older half-brother.
“I’m moved when I see my little brother this happy, as well as seeing my mom and friends living the life they always dreamed of,” Lamine said during a press conference in July 2026, per The Athletic. “My little brother means everything to me. I am in love with him; it feels like he is my son.”
Lamine’s father has also found love again, and in October 2025, he announced on Instagram his engagement to his girlfriend Kristina.
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