Euro 2024: Is Germany's Labour Law Preventing Spain From Playing Lamine Yamal For Full 90 Minutes?

Euro 2024: German labour law could be the reason that has prevented Spain from from playing Lamine Yamal for full 90 minutes as often as they would have liked.

Lamine Yamal is one name that is on the lips of every footballer. At 16 years of age, Yamal scored a splendid goal in the UEFA Euro 2024 semifinal against France to help La Roja clinch a win and seal a place in the final of the tournament. Whatever he seems to be doing in the quadrennial event, seems to be breaking one or the other record. Not only did he become the youngest to feature in a Euro semifinal, he later scored to shatter another record, becoming the youngest-ever footballer to score in Euros.

However, despite describing his play as "touch of a genius", it seeme like coach Luis de la Fuente has not been able to play him for entire 90 minutes as often as he would have liked. The reason happens to be German labour law which prohibits minors from working beyond 8 pm. Having said that athletes are given a relaxation which means the Spanish wonderkid, an FC Barcelona star, could play till 11 pm.

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Will Lamine Yamal Play Full Duration of Spain Vs England Euro 2024 Final?

While Spain's quarterfinal match against Germany started off at 6 pm, several of their Euro 2024 matches, including their semifinal encounter against France that began at 9 pm Geman time. It is being reported that the German labour law in place might have pushed De la Fuente to sub-off Yamal in the 86th minute, 71st minute and 19th minute in matches against Croatia, Italy and Albania respectively.

Yamal, however, did play the entire duration of the match when Spain faced Georgia in the round of 16. And could well feature in the Euro 2024 final again for the entire duration of the match, with the fixture scheduled to kick off at 9.

But that potentially puts the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in a position where they could face a penalty of $32,500 for a violation of the law. However, it is not yet clear whether or not the German authorities will opt to impose that fine or not.