22 instead of 18? Dortmund’s young Moukoko is reportedly four years older

Youssoufa Moukoko, Borussia Dortmund’s youthful striker, reportedly may not be as young as he seems. According to reports from Germany, he may be four years older.

Dortmund super talent Youssoufa Moukoko is the golden child of German football. At 16, he became the youngest footballer in Bundesliga history and at 18, he became Germany’s youngest player at the World Cup.

When he started to shine in Dortmund’s youth team and was nominated for the U16 national team at 12 and surpassed the 19-year-olds at 14, Moukoko enjoyed tremendous attention. It’s just that with his age, things are probably a little different.

German newspaper ‘Bunte’ published Moukoko’s alleged birth certificate, which states that the German talent was born on 19 June 2000. According to official documents, however, the young striker was born on November 20, 2004.

The document with the code 4621/2000 was issued in Yaoundé (Cameroon) in the name of Youssoufa Mohamadou. If true, Moukoko is four years older and 22 instead of 18.

The ageing of African players is not that uncommon anymore. In recent times, cases of footballers posing as much younger than they actually are are just swarming.

For example, Samuel Eto’o, the head of the Cameroonian Football Federation, had to deal with a big problem recently. He had 32 players dropped from the under-17 national team because they failed the age test.

Moukoko started playing regularly for Dortmund in the 2020/21 season, scoring 3 goals in 14 games. His development slowed down a bit last season, scoring twice in 16 games.

But after the summer departure of Erling Haaland, he started to get more space and scored 6 goals and added 3 assists in 18 Bundesliga games. He also assisted two goals in the Champions League.

Source: Bunte