Arsenal prodigy Max Dowman will wrap a historic season by breaking yet another age-related record, becoming the youngest player to win a Premier League title.
When Dowman receives his Premier League winners’ medal after the final whistle of Sunday’s match against Crystal Palace, the day Arsenal will lift the trophy as English soccer champions for the first time in 22 years, the teenage winger will be 16 years and 144 days old.
That shatters the previous as the youngest champion, set by Phil Foden when he was a fringe part of Manchester City’s 2017–18 title-winning team, by more than a year.
Foden was less than three weeks away from turning 18 at that time, whereas Dowman only turned 16 five months ago.
Dowman—who is already the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League and Champions League, as well as Arsenal’s youngest goalscorer and the club’s youngest starter—has made five substitute appearances in the Premier League this season. The most recent of those was during early May’s 3–0 win over Fulham at the Emirates Stadium.
Youngest Premier League Winners
|
Season |
Player |
Club |
Age |
Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2025–26 |
Max Dowman |
Arsenal |
16 years, 144 days |
5 |
|
2017–18 |
Phil Foden |
Man City |
17 years, 350 days |
5 |
|
2022–23 |
Rico Lewis |
Man City |
18 years, 188 days |
14 |
|
2017–18 |
Brahim Díaz |
Man City |
18 years, 283 days |
5 |
|
2003–04 |
Gaël Clichy |
Arsenal |
18 years, 294 days |
12 |
|
2008–09 |
Rafael |
Man Utd |
18 years, 319 days |
16 |
|
1997–98 |
Nicolas Anelka |
Arsenal |
19 years, 57 days |
26 |
|
2019–20 |
Neco Williams |
Liverpool |
19 years, 104 days |
6 |
|
1995–96 |
Phil Neville |
Man Utd |
19 years, 105 days |
24 |
|
1992–93 |
Ryan Giggs |
Man Utd |
19 years, 161 days |
41 |
How Many Arsenal Players Are Entitled to 2025–26 Winners’ Medal?
Under Premier League rules, five appearances is the minimum threshold to automatically entitle a player to a winners’ medal—half of the 10 matches it used to be until 2012.
Each season, the championship-winning team is given 40 medals that are to be primarily distributed among players who have met the five-match requirement. Any leftovers are usually handed out to the manager and staff, while clubs can also decide to offer medals to select players under the threshold. It is also possible to request to buy additional medals with Premier League approval.
In years gone by, players had harshly missed out. The late Alex Manninger, Arsenal’s backup goalkeeper in the late 1990s, played a significant role in the club’s 1997–98 title win covering for David Seaman but only made seven appearances and didn’t automatically qualify for a medal. The club had to specially request an extra one for the Austrian.
This season, 24 Arsenal players are guaranteed to receive a medal. Nobody who hasn’t already hit the five-match threshold will reach it on the final day of the season because every player who featured in the Premier League for the Gunners has made five or more appearances.
It is conceivable that, from the other 16 medals, one could go to backup goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Spaniard hasn’t made a single Premier League appearance because there has been no need to swap out David Raya, but has been ready on the bench for all 37 matches so far.
Incidentally, should Arsenal win the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the month, Kepa would equal Clarence Seedorf’s competition record and become only the second player to win club soccer’s biggest prize with three different clubs. Each time previously, with Chelsea (2020–21) and Real Madrid (2023–24), he had also only been the understudy goalkeeper, not a starter.
The Arsenal players guaranteed a Premier League winners’ medal this season are as follows:
|
Player |
Appearances* |
|---|---|
|
David Raya |
37 |
|
Martín Zubimendi |
37 |
|
Declan Rice |
36 |
|
Viktor Gyökeres |
35 |
|
Eberechi Eze |
35 |
|
Leandro Trossard |
34 |
|
Bukayo Saka |
31 |
|
Gabriel |
31 |
|
William Saliba |
31 |
|
Jurriën Timber |
30 |
|
Gabriel Martinelli |
29 |
|
Noni Madueke |
25 |
|
Riccardo Calafiori |
25 |
|
Piero Hincapié |
24 |
|
Martin Ødegaard |
24 |
|
Mikel Merino |
21 |
|
Myles Lewis-Skelly |
19 |
|
Cristhian Mosquera |
19 |
|
Gabriel Jesus |
13 |
|
Ben White |
12 |
|
Kai Havertz |
11 |
|
Christian Nørgaard |
6 |
|
Ethan Nwaneri |
6 |
|
Max Dowman |
5 |
*One Premier League game is still to be played.
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