Who is Cavan Sullivan, youngest-ever to play in MLS?

When Cavan Sullivan entered onto the field to represent the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday versus the New England Revolution, he broke Freddy Adu's record as the youngest ever to appear for a senior MLS team. In a decisive 5-1 victory for the Union, Sullivan, who turned 14 on Tuesday, broke Adu's record when he entered the game late during the second half. Sullivan was summoned into the senior team for the first time.

On May 9, the young American agreed to the richest homegrown deal in Major League Soccer history, which calls for Sullivan to go to Manchester City, a dominant team in the English Premier League, upon reaching the age of 18.

Freddy Adu took to social media to post about his record being broken by Cavan Sullivan. He wrote, "Big congrats to Cavan Sullivan for his record breaking debut today. That's a hard record to break and the kid did it. Well done and good luck my man."

According to reports, Sullivan is also the youngest player to have played in the NBA, NHL, NFL, WNBA, or Major League Baseball until at least 1970. That record is held by Andrew Bynum, who made his Los Angeles Lakers debut in 2005 at a young age of eighteen years, six days. Ethan Nwaneri made the youngest debut in any of the five major soccer leagues since 1988 when he represented Arsenal in 2022 at the age of 15 years, 181 days.

Freddy Adu and his career achievements and records

Since he hit the field for D.C. United versus the San Jose Earthquakes on April 3, 2004, at his age of 14 years, 306 days, Adu held the record as the youngest player to play for an MLS senior club. Over the course of his club career, which saw him play for the Las Vegas Lights of the USL, go to Europe, the United States, and back, he scored 23 goals.

Adu received the opportunity to play for the senior US squad in a friendly match against Canada at the age of 16 years, 234 days, which is still a record. On November 19, 2008, he netted the very first of his pair of goals as part of the USMNT during a 2-0 victory over Guatemala.