Noah Anyadike, 15, becomes youngest player in EFL Cup history in Cardiff defeat

Noah Anyadike became the youngest player in EFL Cup history when he started Cardiff City's 2-1 second-round defeat by Norwich City at the Cardiff City Stadium on 25 August 2026. He was 15 years and 98 days old, having turned 15 less than 100 days earlier.

The Bluebirds had just completed their second season at the Cardiff City Stadium when Anyadike was born, and he made his senior debut at the same ground 15 years later. With Cardiff short of senior options at centre-back because of an injury crisis, the Wales youth international was selected in the starting XI.

Anyadike's inclusion from the start broke the previous EFL Cup record held by Harvey Elliot, who played for Fulham against Millwall in 2018 aged 15 years and 174 days. He also became the youngest player in Cardiff City history with the appearance.

The defender is the third player in under 12 months to claim the club's youngest-player tag, following Rob Tankiewicz (16 years and 117 days) and Axel Donczew (15 years and 234 days). Anyadike is from Carmarthenshire.

Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphy, who spent time as Manchester City's youth team boss, spoke about the youngster after the match. "It was an incredible evening for him and really well deserved. We've been lucky because he's still in school, so he spent so much time with us in the school holidays," he said. "He's making exceptional strides, and he's a very talented player. We were very clear that he was the best option for this game based on how well he's done."

Barry-Murphy added further detail about how the club will handle Anyadike's development, saying: "I think [we] just [have] to expose him to the level of challenge that he's capable of playing and pushing really. As you saw, he's very big for his age. He can play at a very high level, so we just have to keep pushing him to make sure that he keeps getting the exposures and the level of challenge he needs. And keep educating him on the parts of his game that he needs to improve because he's so young. There are always ups and downs for all players at that age when they make their debut. Our job now is to make sure that we protect him, educate him, but also push him to make sure that he can have the education and experience that he needs to become a very important player for Cardiff."

Norwich secured the victory with a Crnac winner on his return, while Anyadike hobbled off with a muscle cramp in the second half.

Anyadike could make his Championship debut on Saturday when Cardiff host Sheffield United, and he may be joined in the squad by Gabriel Osho—13 years his senior—who is expected to return to training on Thursday.