Who is Mayssa Baha, the 15-year-old Moroccan rewriting Barcelona's record books?

Mayssa Baha, a 15-year-old Moroccan international footballer, has made headlines as the youngest player to start for Barcelona’s Femeni team and break a record set by Lamine Yamal. Born in Malaga, Spain in 2011, Mayssa began playing football at FUS Rabat while her father, former Moroccan international Nabil Baha, was there from 2014 to 2016. She then moved to Malaga, where she and her brother Ziyad continued their youth football journey.

Mayssa has been playing for Morocco’s under-17 women’s team since the age of 12, another record. She made her debut with Barcelona’s Femeni team on September 26, scoring her first senior goal in the league match against Logrono. The young player has been coming on as a substitute for Barcelona’s side, which has won every week in the preceding weeks.

Barcelona, European champions in three of the past four seasons and Spain’s champions in each of the past seven, dominated the league last season with 29 wins out of 30 games and defeated Real Madrid 7-0.

Despite being only 15, Mayssa is mentally and physically mature, strong, confident, powerful, and fast. However, she still has much to learn about understanding the game. Currently, she plays in the best possible environment to advance her career, training at Barcelona’s La Masia academy and moving quickly through the ranks. Her journey has been supported by her mother, Farah Farabian, a Spanish-Moroccan model who spends much of her time watching her children play football and cheering them on.