Cameroon’s Under-17s face a race against time to field a squad for the Africa Cup of Nations regional qualifiers after more players failed age tests ordered by Samuel Eto’o, president of the country’s governing body, Fecafoot.
The former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker’s insistence on using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening has seen the team devastated at their training camp in Mbankomo, on the outskirts of Yaounde.
Of the initial group of 30 members, 21 failed the tests.
But BBC Sport Africa now understands Cameroon suffered yet another setback as 11 new players also failed tests on Tuesday, with coach Jean Pierre Fiala struggling to find replacements.
Cameroon will host Congo, Chad, DR Congo and Central African Republic for the Union of Central African Football Federations (UNIFFAC) qualifiers from January 12-24. Two teams will qualify for the Under-17 Nations Cup in April in Algeria.
A statement from Fecafoot specifies that Eto’o gave “strict instructions” on the actions to be taken “in order to put an end to the falsifications of civil status documents which have, in the past, tarnished the image of Cameroonian football. “.
“Fecafoot urges all actors, especially educators, to ensure that the ages by category are respected.”
The fight against age cheaters
Many of Africa’s international successes in youth tournaments have been clouded by allegations of the use of older players.
Football’s world governing body, Fifa, introduced MRI scans during the 2009 Under-17 World Cup, which was held in Nigeria.
MRI works by scanning the wrist to study the progress of the bone structure
In 2017, Fecafoot prevented 14 players from taking part in the Under-17 AFCON in Gabon after failing tests.
Eto’o vowed to take action to tackle the long-standing problem when he was elected president of Fecafoot in December 2021 and Simon Lyonga, a journalist with Cameroon’s national television channel CRTV, says the decision to weed out age cheaters has been applauded by the public.
“Here in Cameroon, people are on the whole delighted that Fecafoot actually seem to be doing something to try to stop the cheating,” Lyonga told BBC Sport Africa.
“It’s important for the country to give chances to players of the right age.”
Cameroon have been continental champions twice at under-17 level, in 2003 and 2019.
