Age cheating is a blight on African football

The latest manifestation of this dreadful vice came to the fore last week when Congo Brazzaville, who were reported to Confederation of African Football (CAF) by Tanzania for fielding an over aged player, were thrown out of the 2017 Africa under-17 Cup of Nations.

The decision to disqualify Congo Brazzaville who had won on the field of play, was reached at the CAF Executive Committee meeting on Friday last week, which took place in Gabon.
The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) filed a protest on the eligibility of Congolese player, Langa Lesse Bercy.

After the ruling, a statement on the CAF website said: "After several correspondences regarding the player in question, it was decided to carry out a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test in Cairo, Egypt. However, the player never showed up.

A final ultimatum was issued for him to travel to Libreville to undergo the said test. Yet again, Lance Lesse Bercy failed to turn up. Therefore, Congo is disqualified, and will be replaced by Tanzania for the final tournament."

The use of magnetic resonance imaging was introduced by Fifa in 2009 for the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria to help work out whether players were over age or not.

Football's world governing body had been researching its use from 2003 and results from Under-17 World Cups in 2003, 2005 and 2007 revealed up to 35 per cent of players were over age.

Dr Yacine Zerguini, member of the FIFA and CAF medical committees, said at the time: "We know that it is not generally bad intention or purpose if players are biologically above 17 years.
"In some countries, birth certificates are inaccurate or even not available, without that necessarily being the fault of the player or the association."

MRI is used to scan the left wrist of players to accurately find their true age.
Players lying about their ages in world football is a problem the authorities have been struggling to get to grips with for a long time.

It is no secret that some African youth teams are often suspected of being full of overage players, with age scandals hitting the likes of Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya in the past.

Age fraud is rampant in African football and is often described as the biggest problem the game faces on the continent.We urge all African countries to work together to eliminate fraud in this beautiful game.