Lamine Yamal has established himself as an early contender for the 2025 Ballon d’Or with his spectacular performances for Barcelona in the 2024/25 season. The Spaniard played a significant role in their recent Spanish Supercopa win, scoring key goals in wins over Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid.
He’s just toying with defenders with his sensational trickery and dribbling ability, and has tapped into his ruthlessness in terms of goal contributions. The most admirable thing about Yamal is how he’s keeping himself grounded amid his meteoric rise, not letting the surge in popularity bring out an arrogant trait in himself.
A key reason for that how he was brought up by his parents. Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, who was a Muslim building painter, has gained quite a lot of popularity, as he’s often been seen with him and was even the victim of a knife attack last year. His mother, however, played an equally important role in his upbringing.
Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana was born in 1986 in the Equatorial Guinea, with her parents having immigrated to Europe from the African country before her birth. Thanks to his mother’s origin, Yamal could play for the Equatorial Guinea team, but opted to play for his birth nation instead. Sheila met Mounir in Mataro (capital of Maresme county in Catalonia), after Mounir’s mother Fatima settled into the town when he was just a child.
Ebana is mighty proud of her origins and snapped when some people tried criticizng Yamal for his origins, stating: “My son is Equatorial Guinean and it hurts me when people say he is not.” Sheila has earned the respect of her family for her struggles in raising Yamal, being hailed as the ‘most warrior mother’ by Mounir.
Ebana lived in Granollers (in central Catalonia) and separated with Mounir when Yamal was only three (2010). Despite that, the two maintained a cordial relationship and worked together to help the Spaniard excel as a footballer. They had their share of hard times, with Sheila having to work as a waitress in a McDonald’s outlet in Mataro after his birth. However, once she separated with Mounir, she transferred herself out of the outlet to be closer to the Granollers region.
Yamal was enrolled into football at the age of four at the La Torreta local club in the Granoller region by his mother, before joining the Barcelona academy at the age of seven. Despite his incredible rise as a footballer at Barcelona, Ebana also ensured he remained concentrated in his educational qualifications. Ahead of Spain’s Euro 2024 Round of 16 clash against Georgia, Yamal had confirmed that he passed his school examinations and stated: “I passed the exams and I have the ESO qualification now. If I’m honest, I saw them on my phone and it said I had passed so I just closed the application, called my mum and told her.”
As both his parents were working in relatively low-paying jobs, Yamal wasn’t lavished with a lot of material wealth growing up. Speaking about how he joined the Barcelona academy, he had stated: “When I was young I didn’t join any club because my parents couldn’t afford to register me, so I would play with the kids in the parks or with my dogs at home. One day the coach of La Torreta told my parents that I could join the club for free. That’s how my journey began and this was my chance, then I joined Barcelona.”
Despite their difficulties, Ebana and Mounir worked hard to encourage Yamal and support him throughout his football journey. Sheila was particularly supportive of him, attending his matches and giving him the fullest support during his ups and downs.
Lamine is a particular lover of Ebana’s cooking and loves gouging on her African dishes. In an interview with GQ Magazine last year, Yamal included his mother’s special dish – rice with chicken and peanut sauce – as an essential item he can’t live without.
Even though she currently live a very discreet private life in Maresme with her current partner, Sheila has stayed close to Yamal throughout his meteoric rise in football and always travels around with him for matches and ceremonies. She was his ‘plus one’’ at the 2024 Ballon d’Or award, where he won the Kopa Trophy.
Ebana is also quite proactive on social media, having over 180,000 followers on her Instagram account and loves posting about her son’s success on the platform. She’s continuing to work hard in keeping the teenage sensation humble and ensure that he focuses on keeping excelling as a footballer and doesn’t let any personal vices hold him back.
