14-year-old Cavan Sullivan becomes the youngest player to debut in MLS history. (0:58)
NJ/NY Gotham FC forward McKenna “Mak” Whitham became the youngest player to appear for a U.S. top-flight professional team on Sunday.
Whitham entered Sunday’s match in the 80th minute for her team’s 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. She turned 14 years old on Saturday and signed with Gotham earlier in the week as a national team replacement player, a mechanism the NWSL uses to fill rosters during major tournaments.
“We have identified Mak as a special talent but it will take some time to obviously reach her potential,” said Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amoros after the match.
Whitham’s guaranteed contract begins on Jan. 1, 2025, and runs through 2028.
“I’d seen myself as a really good player, but also, there’s a lot to improve on, and I knew that I could accomplish it,” Whitham told ESPN earlier this week. “And I think that it’s a lot of hard work, self-belief.”
The Philadelphia Union’s Cavan Sullivan had set the record for youngest appearance in a U.S. top-flight game only 11 days earlier in the same stadium when he made an appearance in the final minutes of his team’s 5-1 win over the New England Revolution in an MLS regular-season match.
Sullivan, who bested a mark held by one-time USMNT prodigy Freddy Adu, was 14 years, 293 days old on the day of his debut.
Amoros said Whitham breaking the record in the same stadium was merely a coincidence, though.
“It was definitely not on purpose, I have to say that,” Amoros added. “The team needed her at that point and that’s when she came on. Whenever it was, it was going to be a special moment for her that she was going to remember forever.
“She played her part in it, the same way that she’s been playing a part behind the scenes at training every day helping the team. She showed us she’s ready.”
Prior to Whitham’s signing with Gotham, the previous youngest NWSL signing was Melanie Barcenas with San Diego Wave FC in 2023. Barcenas was 15 years, 177 days old at the time.
The NWSL created new rules in 2023 to allow teams to sign players under 18 years old. Previously, players had to enter the NWSL Draft or were only signed under certain league exemptions. As of 2024, each team can sign up to four U-8 players.
Whitham had trained with Gotham on and off throughout 2024 and scored for the reigning NWSL champions as a non-roster invitee during a preseason tournament in Colombia.
Gotham general manager Yael Averbuch West told ESPN that club leadership did a lot of self-evaluation about their ability to support the youngest player in league history before signing her.
“It is a really major moment that we want to celebrate for Mak,” Averbuch West told ESPN. “But she knows, and we know that this is one moment along the journey, and what will ultimately define the success of this is who Mak becomes as a professional as time goes.
“And we are really committed to supporting her to have longevity as a top, top notch professional in the NWSL.”
Sunday’s match was part of the NWSL x Liga MX Summer Cup, a new tournament featuring the top teams in the U.S. and Mexico, akin to the Leagues cup between MLS and Liga MX teams that began its second edition on Friday.