Mak Whitham, 14, became the youngest player in NWSL history to appear in a regular-season match, during NJ/NY Gotham FC‘s season opener against Seattle Reign on Saturday night.
The Gotham FC forward took the pitch at Lumen Field in Seattle as a substitute in the third minute of second-half stoppage.
“Standing on the sideline and waiting to get on the pitch was pretty exciting. I wanted to be out there and was ready,” Whitham said to ESPN. “But what was even better was when Coach Juan [Carlos Amorós] came up to me and said, ‘Enjoy the game and just be you.’ And that was what I did.”
Gotham drew their season opener 1-1 against Reign, after Gabi Portilho‘s opener was canceled out by Emeri Adame in the second-half. The visitors were reduced to 10 players after Mandy Freeman received a red card for a tackle on Nérilia Mondésir
“I just went in there to work really hard to make an impact and to help my team close out the game,” Whitham said.
It isn’t the first time in her short career that Whitham has made history. She became the youngest signing in NWSL history after penning a contract through 2028 with Gotham last year. At the age of 13, she became the youngest women’s soccer player and youngest athlete in any sport to sign a name, image and likeness deal with…
