Cavan Sullivan broke the record for the youngest player to make an MLS appearance when he came on for the Philadelphia Union in their 5-1 thrashing of the New England Revolution last night.
Aged 14 years and 293 days, Sullivan surpassed the mark set by Freddy Adu by 13 days when he debuted for DC United in 2004.
Adu was quick to offer his congratulations, writing on X: “Big congrats to Cavan Sullivan for his record breaking debut today. That’s a hard record to break and the kid did it. Well done and good luck my man.”
Big congrats to Cavan Sullivan for his record breaking debut today. That’s a hard record to break and the kid did it. Well done and good luck my man. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
— FREDDY ADU (@FreddyAdu) July 18, 2024
Sullivan, who is also younger than anyone to play in the big four North American leagues, came on in the 85th minute to replace Tai Baribo, who had already scored a hat-trick as the Union ran out 5-1 winners.
Sullivan signed the biggest homegrown player deal in MLS history in May, a four-year contract that contains a clause that will see him transfer to Premier League champions Manchester City when he turns 18.
Quinn Sullivan, Cavan’s brother, and Jakob Glesnes also scored for Philly with Ian Harkes replying for New England, whose head coach Caleb Porter was unhappy with his team’s performance.
He said: “We have to know that there will be games where we’re going to [concede] the first goal, and the mentality will have to be tough to try to throw off that moment and try to find a way to get the victory. Obviously, this is one of the things that, including me, we need to work on so much.”
The moment 14-year-old Cavan Sullivan made history. 👏 pic.twitter.com/7MuOWQMQgb
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 18, 2024
