Samuel Eto’o is in trouble again. 21 out of 30 players lied about their age before the U-17 national team meeting

It’s not big news that some players, mostly of African descent, often lie about their true age. The Cameroon Football Federation came out with the news today that 21 players out of the 30 nominated have failed the age test and will not travel for the team’s U-17 qualifying match.

This is a huge problem for African football. The players are usually much older than their documents indicate. Document forgery is rampant and the Cameroon Football Federation has been trying for years to crack down on such fraud.

Samuel Eto’o, who is the president of the Cameroon Football Federation, is fighting very hard against identity and age fraud. He has now enlisted modern technology in the fight, which has now revealed 21 players out of 30 nominated who lied about their age.

This is because the African country’s federation uses MRI scans of the wrists, where doctors analyse the maturity of the bones and are able to determine the exact age of the player. But it was these tests that 70% of the under-17 team failed.

They were all immediately dropped from the nomination and the players are facing penalties. Already in the summer Eto’o dealt with this problem and 44 players from different clubs were summoned to the headquarters of the federation.

In a press release, the federation also calls on all clubs and officials to work together to fight this negative trend. The local authorities usually do not deal with these scams at all, and overage players often end up on the European market as well.

Guinea, for example, has had a problem in the past and was disqualified from the 2017 Under-17 World Cup because two members of its squad cheated with their age.

Former Sparta player Guélor Kanga has also had a problem in the past due to document fraud, as he was alleged to have lied about his age, place of birth and even had a different name. However, he was eventually cleared.

But these “mysteries” usually end up unsolved. It’s almost impossible to determine the exact age of an adult footballer

Sources: Twitter, iRadio