The passion for football has swept the hearts of millions of people over the years all over the world and still is, thanks to what this sport reduces to many peoples from historical and sometimes national symbolism, and the sublime human principles it establishes such as respect for the values ​​of fair competition and sportsmanship.

However, the bright image of this popular sport was not devoid of impurities outside the context of sports ethics that upset its fans and corrupted its essence, including tampering with match results and offering bribes within local and continental bodies, and also - in particular - falsifying the ages of players in order to increase their chances of brilliance and football success.

The last chapter of this forgery series was recorded in early January, after the Cameroon Football Federation announced the exclusion of 32 players from its national team under 17 years old, after it was proven that they had forged their ages as a result of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations.

This revelation came after the former Cameroonian football star and current president of the federation, Samuel Eto'o, imposed a special age test on all the players who were summoned to represent his country in the African Championship for Local Players (CHAN), which is currently being held in Algeria.

32 players in the Cameroon national team under 17 years old confirmed that they falsified their ages (Reuters)

real pickle

This new scandal of African football put the coach of the Cameroonian national team in a real dilemma a few days before the start of the tournament, and made him race against time in order to find qualified alternatives to participate in the demonstration.

All the players who were summoned underwent recent medical examinations at the level of the wrists and measured bone growth, as their true age is revealed through some bones that do not grow except at a certain age and it is impossible to appear before this age.

The "Untamed Lions" team has previously won the African title in this age group on two occasions, and in the 2017 tournament, 17 Cameroonian players were banned from competing after failing an MRI test.

Cameroon was also subjected to harsh criticism from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for its refusal to reveal the list of under-20 and 17-year-old players.

A real crisis arose between the Cameroonian and Moroccan federations in 2019, after the latter accused Cameroonian officials of falsifying the ages of the players and filing a complaint with CAF asking him to investigate their ages directly after a match that brought together the two teams in the African U-17 Cup finals in Tanzania.

Similar facts

The incident of falsifying 32 Cameroonian players for their ages is not the first of its kind known to the courts of the round witch in the African continent, but rather that many incidents were witnessed during different stations.

Among the most famous is the exclusion of the Guinea national team from the U-17 African Cup in 2019, after it was proven that the ages of two players in the group had been falsified.

Years earlier, specifically in 1989, FIFA banned Nigeria from age group competitions after discovering that the birthdates of 3 of its players in the 1988 Olympics were different from those used by the players themselves in previous competitions.

And recently, last August, the Mauritanian national team withdrew from the West African Championship for under 15 years, just hours after its defeat in a match against Sierra Leone by 6 clean goals, accusing its opponent of competing with older players from the specified category.

The Mauritanian Federation - which participated with 3 other teams in the tournament, Senegal, Liberia and Sierra Leone - issued a statement stressing that the withdrawal of the buds came to preserve their safety, given that it had obtained "confirmed information suggesting that some of the players participating in the tournament are over the required age."

stern response

With the aim of reducing this phenomenon in age group tournaments, the Confederation of African Football officially decided last August to use an MRI scan, starting with the U-23 African Cup of Nations that will be held in Morocco next November, which will qualify for Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

And Cameroonian press reports revealed that the CAF Executive Committee seeks to strictly confront this phenomenon by applying this examination with the highest standards, especially since the tournament will qualify for the Olympics.

The magnetic resonance test contributes to determining the true age of the players, through a test conducted on the bones, after which the CAF will verify whether the biological age of each player is the same as that provided by the local federations in the official lists.

The Confederation will adopt this technology, despite some specialized reports questioning its scientific accuracy and its ability to monitor the ages of players, including a report issued in August 2016 by the American magazine Scientific American, which is specialized in determining the exact ages of soccer players through this mechanism.

Former star and president of the Cameroonian Federation, Samuel Eto'o (center), pledged to fight against falsifying the ages of players in his country (Getty Images)

Intercontinental manipulation

Although several cases of fraud have been recorded in the brown continent, the manipulation of the ages of players is a phenomenon that is not limited to African football only, but several cases of fraud have been recorded in many countries of the world and in the Arab region.

Well-known stars were also involved in this disgraceful practice, the latest of which was the German star - of Cameroonian origin - Youssoufa Moukoko, whose case surfaced recently after doubts arose about his true age.

According to the British Daily Mail, a number of English clubs have become "reluctant" to contract with Mokoko, the star of Borussia Dortmund, after reports emerged that he was one of the players whose age might have been falsified.

Mokoko - who caught the eye with Dortmund and carried the colors of the "Manshafts" national team - moved to Germany at the age of 14 before being adopted by a German family.

The British newspaper quoted German and Austrian media sources as skeptical about the fact that the player is 18 years old, as recorded in the official documents of his club Dortmund and the German Federation for the game, and that his real age is 22 years.

The same reports claim that a birth certificate dating back to the year 2000, bearing the name of Yousoufou Mahamadou, was found and sent to the press by Moukoko's adoptive father, who says it does belong to the player.

Stars and rigging

On the other hand, the Italian website "Kronaki de Spoletoio", in a report published in May 2020, reviewed the names of prominent stars who were accused of tampering with their real dates of birth, up and down, among the most famous of them the Colombian national team's top scorer Radamel Falcao, and former Ghanaian soccer star Abedi Pele.

Falcao

The site says that the Colombian star was pursued in an earlier period by suspicions about his real age, which made him send his birth certificate to the Spanish newspaper "El Tiempo", in order to dispel doubts.

It was rumored at the time in the press that he was 29 years old, not 27, and the reason for raising the issue was that the director of an institute in Colombia confirmed that he had personal documents for Falcao proving that he was born in 1984, not 1986, and that the place of his birth is the capital, Bogota, and not the city of Santa Marta.

Ghanaian legend Pele

The Ghanaian legend, who won the Golden Ball as the best African player 3 times, remains a mystery, as during his professional career in the Italian club Turin from 1994 to 1996, he lied about his real age in order to participate in a youth tournament, but he escaped the legal consequences after the investigators failed. Evidence that he committed the crime of forgery.

Taribo West

When Taribo West arrived at the Serbian club Partizan in 2002, he said that he was 28 years old, but later it became clear that he had lied about his age, and that he was in fact forty years old, but since he was playing well, Zarko Zicevic, president of the Serbian club, said he did not regret it Never on assignment.

Taribo West played for Inter Milan, and the team doctor said at the time that he had doubts about the player's real age, but ruled out that the difference was 12 full years, given that the player was in good physical condition.

Anthony Yeboah

Two years after he retired from playing, Ghanaian Anthony Yeboah admitted that his real age was two years less than what was announced, and the reason behind this was that at the beginning of his career in the early 1990s he wanted to play in the professional league, so he added two years to his age in order to move to the Asante Kotoko team.

Luciano Erberto

The site says that this Brazilian player gained his fame in Italy after the surprise he detonated at the age of thirty, and Luciano admitted in an interview with "Sky Sport" that he grew up in Brazil without parents, and was forced to work in order to live, and that some of his acquaintances advised him to forge his name and date. his birth and impersonating his younger neighbor.

The player confirmed that after years of professionalism in Italy, he felt remorse, and decided to be brave and reveal the truth, so that his son could carry his real name, Luciano de Oliveira.

Chancel Mbemba

Mpemba appeared in the Belgian club Anderlecht, and he is currently playing in Porto, Portugal, and because of his facial features, there were doubts about his real age, and FIFA decided to conduct an investigation on the matter.

In official documents, Mbemba was born on August 8, 1994, but the investigation proved that he possesses two other passports, the first he used when he was playing in the Congo and his date of birth is August 8, 1988, and another passport in the possession of the Congolese Football Federation, and the date of birth It is written in November 30, 1991.

Gonzalo Keila or Angel Kimi

The story happened in Ecuador in 2003, when two friends went to take entrance exams for a club, but the problem was the age, as in order to register the player, he must not exceed 21 years old.

The player who was admired by the coaches was the oldest, and his name was Angel Kimi, and in order not to miss this opportunity, he decided to borrow the identity of his younger friend Gonzalo Kela, within the framework of a financial agreement between the two friends so that the first would continue his football career.

Thanks to the forgery, the player was able to stand out in the professional league, and this crime seemed complete until Gonzalo Kela decided to confess what happened and was punished with two years imprisonment.