Spain's Lamine Yamal, 16, becomes youngest player to appear in a European Championship

BERLIN (AP) — Lamine Yamal became the youngest player ever to appear at a European Championship on Saturday when he started for Spain in its tournament-opening game against Croatia.

Yamal was 16 years, 338 days. The previous record-holder was Kacper Kozlowski of Poland, who was 17 years, 246 days in 2021 when he played against Spain.

He set up Álvaro Morata for Spain's first chance early on.

It's Yamal's eighth appearance for Spain. He played 47 games in the Spanish league and Champions League for Barcelona last season.

Yamal will turn 17 the day before the Euro 2024 final on July 14 in Berlin.

AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024

Spain's Lamine Yamal, center, challenges for the ball with Croatia's Josko Gvardiol, left, and Croatia's Marin Pongracic, right, during a Group B match between Spain and Croatia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, June 15, 2024. Lamine Yamal was set to become the youngest player ever to play at a European Championship on Saturday when he was named in Spain's starting lineup for its Group B-opening game against Croatia. (AP Photo/Petr Josek)

Spain's Lamine Yamal, center, runs with the ball next to Croatia's Josko Gvardiol during to a Group B match between Spain and Croatia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Lamine Yamal, left, plays the ball during a Group B match between Spain and Croatia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, June 15, 2024. Lamine Yamal was set to become the youngest player ever to play at a European Championship on Saturday when he was named in Spain's starting lineup for its Group B-opening game against Croatia. (Soeren Stache/dpa via AP)

Croatia's Mateo Kovacic, left, vies for the ball with Spain's Fabian Ruiz and Lamine Yamal, right, during a Group B match between Spain and Croatia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Spain's Lamine Yamal follows the action during a Group B match between Spain and Croatia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After a summer spent packing away sockeye salmon, Alaska’s heftiest brown bears are ready to throw their weight around.

Online voting began Tuesday for Fat Bear Week, the annual contest that pits the rotund residents of Katmai National Park and Preserve against each other for the title of most oversized ursine.

Last year's winner, Chunk — known officially as Bear 32 — is hungry for a repeat. Chunk's weight in 2025 was estimated at 1,200 pounds, which gave him a narrow victory. This year he's back and facing corpulent competition like Gully — aka Bear 903 — the offspring of two-time champion Grazer.

The contest, which is in its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands. The animals gorge on the abundant salmon that return to the Brooks River, sometimes chomping the fish in midair as they make their way upstream to spawn.

The event this year features 16 bears facing off in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner declared Sept. 29. The public can watch the bears on explore.org’s livestream cameras before deciding on their favorite.

“Fat bears are successful bears,” the nonprofit's website says. They gorge on salmon starting in late June in order to accumulate fat reserves to prepare for winter hibernation, when they do not eat or drink and lose one-third of their body weight.

Adult male brown bears typically weigh 600 to 900 pounds (about 270 to 410 kilograms) in midsummer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon — each eats as many as 30 fish per day — large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms). Females are about one-third smaller.

Voters in the online contest can review before-and-after photos of the bears, lean at the start of summer and fattened at the end. The bears are not actually weighed — imagine that process — and some fans choose their favorite based on their looks or backstory.

To be featured in the contest, the bears must frequent the area around the river.

The live cameras at Brooks Falls captured the moments in 2024 when mother bear 128 Grazer ’s cub slipped over the waterfall and floated into the fishing spot occupied by Chunk, who attacked and injured the cub. Grazer fought Chunk, but the cub ultimately died. After the dramatic fight, voting fans handed Grazer a victory over Chunk. Then Chunk returned in 2025 to take the title.

Fat Bear Week was started in 2014 as an interactive way to inform the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies.

FILE - This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 32 Chunk at Katmai National Park in Alaska on Sept. 19, 2024. (E. Johnston/National Park Service via AP, File)