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.
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