Ajax the youngest team to ever feature in a major European final (out of 354 sides) as they face Manchester United

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Ajax became the youngest team in history to feature in a European final as they faced Manchester United on Wednesday evening.

The talented side, made up of a host of Europe's brightest young stars, had an average age of just 22 years and 282 days as they took to the field against the Red Devils in Stockholm.

The Eredivisie club are the youngest of all of the 354 teams that have played in European finals in football history.   

Ajax are the youngest team to have played in a European final with an average age of 22 years and 282 days when they faced Manchester United in the Europa League showpiece

Kasper Dolberg, 19 and Matthijs de Ligt, just 17, both started the final in Stockholm

Kasper Dolberg, 19, Matthijs de Ligt, just 17 and Jairo Riedewald, 20, all started the match which saw Ajax claim the record held by the CSKA Moscow side of 2005. 

The Russians fielded a side with an average age of just 23 years and 139 days when they beat Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup twelve seasons ago.

Before that, Crvena Zvezda - now Red Star Belgrade - fielded a side only slightly older when they faced Borussia Monchengladbach in 1979 with an average age of 23 years and 214 days.

Two weeks later, for the replay after the first final ended 1-1, the Serbians team was just 11 days older than the first XI they put out.

In 1965, a year before England's World Cup triumph, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters appeared for West Ham as the Hammers defeated 1860 Munich 2-0 in the Cup Winners' Cup - that team's average age was 24 years and 40 days and is the fifth youngest side to feature in a European final.

Back to present day and Ajax's teen stars have drawn huge plaudits during their run to the Europa League final and are being monitored by a host of top clubs on the continent.

Bobby Moore (top row, second left) celebrates West Ham's Cup Winners' Cup win in 1965