When it comes to pure, goal-scoring prowess, his Guinness World Record proves that Pelé remains the yardstick all the other soccer giants are measured with. The Brazilian phenomenon born as Edson Arantes do Nascimento is a true global superstar of soccer. Over his 21-year career, he found the net a ridiculous 1,279 times, plus two more times in special appearances.

Pelé also holds a certain other Guinness World Record. In the 1958 World Cup tournament in Sweden, he became the youngest player to win the most prestigious championship of the sport, the FIFA World Cup. Despite being only 17 years and 249 days old at the time, Pelé turned in a typically bombastic performance. As ESPN tells us, the Brazilian national team faced Sweden in the final, and the underage star personally made short work of the hosts by scoring two goals in Brazil’s 5-2 victory.

It looks like Pelé hasn’t forgotten the feeling, either. After 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe became the youngest player since the Brazilian legend to score in a World Cup final when France beat Croatia in 2018, the delighted Pelé tweeted his congratulations and welcomed Mbappe in the “club” of teenage players who have scored in the final. Current membership of said club: two people.

Most stories of young champions are inspiring tales about success that fans of the sport remember fondly. Ask a basketball fan about the NBA’s Darko Milicic, however, and their comments might not be quite as adoring. As the Herald Sun describes, Milicic himself is well aware of his reputation as a less than successful player, and actually agrees with it wholeheartedly. In 2003, the Serbian phenomenon was such a hot commodity that the Detroit Pistons drafted him as the number two overall pick — just behind a certain LeBron James. Unfortunately, the praise and attention made Milicic think of himself as a godsend, and the talented seven-foot-tall center focused his energies on all the wrong things. He got into fights, acted arrogantly, and even got drunk before practice sessions.

Milicic’s first steps in the NBA were a success, though no thanks to his confrontational attitude. The Pistons were a top team, and in 2004, they beat the L.A. Lakers in the finals for the Larry O’Brien trophy. Milicic played in three of the games, and was 18 years, 356 days old in his Game Three appearance. This was as good as the basketball life ever got for him. Milicic went on to average an unassuming 1.6 points per game during his three seasons with the Pistons, and after six more years as an unhappy journeyman, he left the game to become a farmer in his home country.

Martina Hingis was born to play tennis. She was named after the legendary Martina Navratilova, and her mother was former pro player Melanie Molitor. Still, few knew what was coming when Hingis started competing. The Tennis Hall of Fame describes her extraordinary arrival: Hingis burst in the scene in the late 1990s, when women’s tennis was bursting at the seams with superstars like Monica Seles and Steffi Graf. Despite this, she quickly rose through the ranks. In 1996, she became the youngest major titlist in the history of the sport, at just 15 years and 9 months. At 16 years and 3 months, she won her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open, and went on to win four more before she turned 19. 

Another young winner worth mentioning is Lottie Dod, whose Tennis Hall of Fame entry tells that she won the Wimbledon a total of five times. Her first victory came in 1887, when she was just 15 years, 285 days old. According to The Telegraph, Dod was a versatile sports superstar — In addition to tennis, she was a golf champion, a member of the national field hockey team, and an Olympic silver medalist in archery. However, there’s a catch. Due to her young age, Dod was allowed to compete in a peculiar outfit that resembled a school uniform, which granted her far more mobility than the layered outfits and full-length dresses her opponents competed in.

In 2010, Sebastian Vettel of the Red Bull team became the youngest Formula One Champion in history. According to his Guinness World Record, he was 23 years and 134 days old, and the way he won his title was a thriller that warranted such a historical victory. The final race of the season was the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the United Arab Emirates. Four drivers were still contending for the title, and the championship was still up in the air. The smart money was not necessarily on Vettel — he was 15 points behind Fernando Alonso in the standings, so his only hope was to win the race, and even that wouldn’t have saved him if Alonso finished fourth or higher. 

Vettel started in pole position and managed to largely stay in the lead, but his race was not without drama. In the final laps, he experienced radio problems, so he had no idea to know how Alonso was doing. In the end, he emerged from his car as the winner… and found out that Alonso had finished in seventh place.  

According to Vettel’s F1 Hall of Fame page, this was only the beginning of his domination with the Red Bull team. They went on to win four consecutive Formula One World Championships, from 2010 to 2013. Vettel was still only 26 when he won the fourth one.

In 1868, “Young” Tom Morris became the only golfer to win a major golf championship before he turned 18. Golf News Net reports that he was 17 years, 5 months and 8 days old. According to ThoughtCo, this was the first of his three consecutive British Opens. The second one made him the only male golfer to win a major golf championship before he turned 19, and the third one made him one of the two men who have won before they turned 20. Strangely, his incredibly appropriate nickname didn’t come from these heroics. During his lifetime, people just called him “Tommy.” However, his father was also a golfer and they shared a name, so history books couldn’t resist giving them new, posthumous nicknames. Today, we know them as “Young” Tom Morris and “Old” Tom Morris.

If we disregard Morris as a player from a different era where it was easier for a talented player to dominate, the youngest male player to win a major championship in modern golf is Tiger Woods, who won the 1997 Masters at just 21 years, 3 months, and 14 days old. However, when we take female players into account, the list is very different. Lydia Ko won the 2015 Evian Championship when she was 18 years, 4 months, and 20 days old. In fact, there are eight female golfers who won their first championship younger than Tiger Woods was when he won his.