January 13 – Chad are the latest nation to fall foul of the age testing saga rocking African football after being disqualified from the regional Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers due to start on January 12.
The ban comes after one of their players failed an MRI age test.
Last week, host nation Cameroon was forced to dismiss more than 30 potential players for failing tests ordered by federation boss Samuel Eto’o
Chad’s disqualification follows Congo pulling out of the five-team qualifying event after 25 of 40 players were also found to be over age.
FIFA introduced MRI scans at the 2009 Under-17 World Cup, which took place in Nigeria.
Chad were due to play Congo-Brazzaville in the opening game which will decide regional qualification for April’s 12-team Under-17 Cup of Nations in Algeria.
Allegations of over-age players have been a long-running concern for African football, particularly at junior level. In 2019, Guinea were thrown out of the Under-17 World Cup after two of their players were found guilty of age-cheating.
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