Brugts, Kuhl and the NXGN stars to watch at the 2022 UEFA Women's Euros

The youngest professional women's footballer in Iceland's history, Amanda Andradottir was just 15 years old when she decided to leave home and move to Denmark, joining one of the country's biggest clubs, Fortuna Hjorring.

She’s now in Sweden with Kristianstad, finding her feet in one of the best leagues in Europe for developing young players.

Andradottir’s senior Iceland debut came in late 2021, when she was still only 17. She’s been a fixture in Thorsteinn Halldorsson’s squads ever since, choosing to represent her country of birth despite also being eligible for Norway, whom she represented at youth level.

An attacking midfielder with great dribbling ability, an eye for goal and good vision, perhaps her stand-out trait is her incredible footwork, which allows her to dance past defenders with ease.

It was only in February that Esmee Brugts, ranked at No.12 in this year’s NXGN list, made her senior debut for Netherlands. To be included in Mark Parsons' squad for the UEFA Women's Euros just four months later, then, speaks volumes of the impression she has made.

“A very smart, creative player,” the head coach said of her in June. “She can dribble, pass, shoot, cross, defend – but it's the game insight and intelligence that I think we're going to be enjoying for a few years.”

Often found on the left wing, she can also play as an attacking midfielder and already has some big experiences under her belt, scoring in the Champions League, winning the Dutch Cup with PSV and playing in a number of tournaments with the Netherlands youth teams.

The youngest player in a Portugal squad that contains a number of teenage gems, Alicia Correia is a fine example of a modern-day left-back.

The 18-year-old shows great initiative to get forward but also works incredibly hard to track back and honour her defensive duties, with her speed allowing her to balance both elements well.

Confident on the ball and in taking players on, Correia made her debut for Portugal's senior team in October 2020, aged 17, then signed her first professional contract with Sporting CP just a month later.

A name that not many outside of her home country will be familiar with just yet, it is certainly one to remember.

Belgium has a lot of young talent to be excited about, but Hannah Eurlings may be the best of the lot.

The forward’s progression through the national team system has been accelerated by her ability, with her first involvements coming for the under-16s, aged 14, before she jumped straight from under-17 level to the senior side.

The OH Leuven star was only 17 when she made that international debut and she’s been a favourite of Ives Serneels' ever since, scoring three goals in just four starts so far in qualifying for the 2023 Women's World Cup.

Eurlings is a forward who plays with great freedom, which is evident in her tricky footwork when one-on-one with a full-back, but she also demands a lot from herself. Predominantly right-footed, she's still confident enough to shift onto her left where necessary when driving at defenders.

When GOAL spoke to Katherine Kuhl earlier this year, after she ranked at No.7 in the 2022 NXGN list, she said it would be a “dream come true” to be in Denmark’s squad for this summer’s Euros.

Fast forward a few months and she’s got her ticket to England, ready to show the whole of Europe why she is so highly-rated in her homeland.

The midfielder made her debut for Nordsjaelland aged 16 and has gone from strength to strength ever since, making her senior international bow a year later.

Able to bring her attacking qualities to the pitch with either foot, she is now striving to add more goals, assists and defining moments to her game.

Cecilia Ran Runarsdottir’s story is pretty incredible. She was just 13 when she made her senior debut in the Icelandic second division, and only 15 when she secured a move to the top flight.

There, she certainly caught the eye, winning individual accolades as well as her first senior cap for her country – the latter seeing her set a new record as her country’s youngest ever goalkeeper, aged 16.

A year later, she moved abroad, taking her skills to Sweden before she then joined one of the biggest clubs in the world, Bayern Munich.

Still only 18 years old, the experience she already has under her belt is incredible, while her mentality is perhaps her biggest strength despite her impressive reflexes and commanding presence when it comes to collecting crosses.

Riola Xhemaili's introduction to senior football went even better than she could have dreamed. She was only 15 years old when she debuted for Basel, a game which saw her play the full 90 minutes and score a goal.

She's continued to defy her age ever since, making her Switzerland debut and captaining Basel at 17, before moving to one of Europe's top leagues, the Frauen-Bundesliga, to sign for Freiburg.

With her maturity, superb technique and eye for goal, the midfielder made quite an impact in her first season in Germany, starting all but five of the club’s league fixtures, and the experience of a Women’s Euros will only help to accelerate such rapid development.

Players must be born in 2003 or later to be eligible for NXGN, but there are plenty of other teen stars worth mentioning.

One of those is GOAL’s 2021 Women’s NXGN winner, Hanna Bennison, the teenage Swede described by former coach Jonas Eidevall as having “the potential to be the best player in the world”.

She recently joined Everton and had a difficult first season in England, due to the Toffees’ struggles, but that new experience will have taught her a lot at such a young age.

Also in Group C with Bennison and Sweden is Portugal’s Kika Nazareth, the 19-year-old forward with wonderful footwork and the ability to score spectacular goals. She is the most exciting talent coming out of her country right now.

Elsewhere, Jule Brand is always a joy to behold. The Germany international can play either as a left-back or a left winger and comes into the summer off the back of a great season with Hoffenheim, ahead of a move to two-time European champions Wolfsburg.

Last but not least is Svenja Folmli, Xhemaili's Switzerland and Freiburg team-mate. Described as the "absolute complete package" by former coach Glenn Meier, she's not just a goal-scoring forward, but a creative one with good movement and lots of energy.