Kennet Eichhorn celebrates debut at 16: The youngest players in the 2. Bundesliga
16. Johannes Geis (17 years, 3 months, 3 days)
He broke into the first team at Fürth and made his debut in a 4-0 win against SC Paderborn on November 20, 2010. Geis became a regular starter in Mainz and subsequently made a big-money move to Schalke. This move didn't pan out as hoped, so a tirade of transfers led him to Schweinfurt, Sevilla, Cologne, several years at Nuremberg, and Haching this season.
15. Medin Kojic (17 years, 2 months, 22 days)
Like many others here, he's also caught in the "get some professional time and then play for the second team" trap. In his debut for Paderborn against Pauli, he was substituted for Richmond Tachie shortly before final whistle (March 3, 2023).
14. Assan Ouédraogo (17 years, 2 months, 19 days)
He enjoyed a dream debut in the 2023/24 second division opener, equalizing the score at 1-1 after 22 minutes at Volksparkstadion (July 28, 2023). After an impressive, but injury-plagued debut season at Schalke, the U17 World and European Champion moved to RB Leipzig for approximately €10 million.
13. Lewis Holtby (17 years, 2 months, 19 days)
A top-notch attitude grade. The now 34-year-old made his debut for Aachen in a match against St. Pauli on December 7, 2007. The interim coach at the time was none other than Jörg Schmadtke. The rest is history: Two years after his debut, he moved to Schalke, followed by longer and shorter spells at Bochum, Mainz, Tottenham, Fulham, Hamburg, Blackburn, and Kiel. Holtby is currently without a club.
12. Tino Kusanovic (17 days, 2 months, 1 day)
The Croatian is the youngest player in the history of 1. FC Nuremberg since the introduction of the Bundesliga. He made his debut in May 2024 against 1. FC Köln (May 9, 2024). After playing professional football for half a season, Kusanovic has since played for Nuremberg's reserve team in the Regionalliga Bayern.
11. Roberto Massimo (17 years, 1 month, 19 days)
He played his first minutes of second-division football for Arminia Bielefeld in a 5-0 win over St. Pauli on December 1, 2017. After joining VfB Stuttgart, he was loaned out twice before joining Greuther Fürth on a free transfer for the 2023/24 season. After one season there, he joined Lukas Podolski at Górnik Zabrze.
10. Elione Fernandes Neto (17 years, 0 months, 18 days)
He made his debut in the 3-1 home win against Hansa Rostock (September 10, 2022). After 292 minutes of action for Düsseldorf, he transferred to Red Bull Salzburg for around three million euros, from where he was immediately loaned to their farm team in Liefering.
9. Boris Mamzah Lum (16 years, 11 months, 27 days)
He was Eichhorn's predecessor as Hertha's youngest player in the 2. Bundesliga. He made his debut against SV Elversberg (September 29, 2024). He is now part of Hertha's reserve team in the Regionalliga and captain of the German U-18 national team.
8. Omar Megeed (16 years, 11 months, 14 days)
He made his debut for Hamburger SV in an away win at the Alm (August 13, 2022). After another brief appearance, he has since played primarily for HSV's reserve team in the Regionalliga Nord.
7. Rafael Pinto Pedrosa (16 years, 11 months, 14 days)
The right-back made his first appearances in the second division for KSC in a 2-0 home win against Schalke (September 13, 2024). He made several more appearances for the first team over the course of the season. In April 2025, he signed a long-term professional contract.
6. Gunther Reeg (16 years, 10 months, 28 days)
For him, we had to dig so deep into the football history books that even the photo archives no longer yield any matches. A journey back in time to the 1980s: Reeg made his debut in the Lilies' 4-0 defeat to Nuremberg (June 2, 1985). For several decades, he held the record for the youngest professional appearance in a German professional league. In his second second-division game, he even scored a goal. Those would prove to be his only minutes in professional football. There is no information about Gunther Reeg's subsequent life.
5. Philipp Sonn (16 years, 10 months, 19 days)
In Torsten Lieberknecht's arms, the world already looks a lot less frightening. Sonn made his first-team debut in Darmstadt's 3-0 defeat to KSC (July 30, 2021) due to a coronavirus outbreak. After his final U19 season in Darmstadt, he moved to Wormatia Worms in the Oberliga, then to Bahlinger SC in the Southwest region, and then back to the Oberliga in the summer of 2025, joining KSC's second team.
4. Ben Kieffer (16 years, 10 months, 5 days)
A proud glance at the stands: "I didn't do too badly, eh?" Born in Regensburg, he progressed through all the youth teams there. In only the third win of the season against Darmstadt 98 (December 22, 2024), he became the club's youngest player and gave himself a huge Christmas present.
3. Fabio Chiarodia (16 years, 6 months, 5 days)
He made his first-team debut in Werder Bremen's most recent second-division season against Jahn Regensburg (December 10, 2021). Following Bremen's promotion, he also became the club's youngest Bundesliga player before transferring to the Lower Rhine region for the 2023/24 season.
2. Efe-Kaan Sihlaroğlu (16 years, 4 months and 19 days)
He played his first professional minute in the 4-0 win against Hannover 96 (November 27, 2021). What happened next was almost a football nightmare superlative: three cruciate ligament tears within two years. Phew.
1. Kennet Eichhorn (16 years and 14 days)
What must be going through your head when, just two weeks after your 16th birthday, you're about to make your debut in front of 60,000 people at the Olympic Stadium! Ever since his first professional minutes against KSC (August 10, 2025), he's seemed like a youthful glimmer of hope amid Hertha's rather dismal start to the season.
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