It was one of the great stories of CAN 2024 in Ivory Coast.
Wilfried Nathan Douala, resident of Victoria United in Limbé, was presented as a future star of Cameroon and the Indomitable Lions which he joined at just 17 years old.
The Lion Cub did not compete for a minute in the competition but stood out for his wild dance moves.
Except that everything was false: the young player was suspended – just like 61 other players – on Sunday March 10 by the Cameroonian Federation (Fécafoot) chaired by Samuel Eto'o.
But for the “young” Douala, the problem would go even further, the federation speaking of a problem of double identity.
Also read: Samuel Eto'o: "Mbappé is the best player in the world"
The French daily Le Monde makes revelations going even further: Wilfried Nathan Douala is actually called Alexandre Bardelli and is at least 23 years old.
The newspaper made the link with this football player interviewed in 2022 during a report carried out as part of the CAN contested in Cameroon.
“Alexandre Bardelli, it’s Wilfried Nathan Douala”
That day, the journalist goes to meet the Oryx team, a legendary club in the country, to discuss the lack of resources in the local championship.
Among the players present, Alexandre Bardelli, 21, who wants to become professional.
In the photo taken in 2022, the physical resemblance to Wilfried Nathan Douala is striking.
The two men have the same scar on their right eyebrow and identical tattoos: "the number 69 on the left forearm, a cross near the right hand, three comic strips around the left calf, a tribal motif below the right knee", lists Le Monde.
[𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐞̂𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 📸]
🦁🇨🇲 Here are the two professional licenses of Alexandre Bardelli, better known as Wilfried Nathan Douala with his two names and two different dates of birth 😅
Knowing that having a dual identity is a crime punishable by … pic.twitter.com/vCgoUNIBQf
— La Tanière²³⁷ 🦁 (@lataniere237) March 12, 2024
“Yes, Alexandre Bardelli, it’s Wilfried Nathan Douala,” several Oryx veterans who requested anonymity confirm to the daily newspaper today.
Fake ages, the scourge of African football
Age fraud is a scourge of African football.
For equal talent, it is easier to catch the eye of a European club when you are 17 rather than 23.
A player who pretends to be younger will have a better chance of joining a training center, because he will outperform in his category.
Beyond this cheating which, in some cases, goes as far as changing their marital status, other players simply do not know their true date of birth, like the Congolese Chancel Mbemba.
See alsoAmane Dramera: “The scourge of fake football agents affects all continents”
🔴 62 players including Nathan Douala and several other internationals are provisionally declared ineligible by FECAFOOT for the play-offs (MTN Elite One) for dual identity:
▪️Yong Sport academy (13 Players)
- Arnaud Messanga Messanga
- Fabrice Kamaka Fils
- Njiberu… pic.twitter.com/jn3iWJZdQ7
— AllezLesLions (@AllezLesLions) March 11, 2024
“The decision of European clubs not to take players over the age of 23 from Africa is the primary cause of this situation,” says Ernest Obama, spokesperson for Samuel Eto'o.
In L'Équipe, he explains that "the Cameroonian Football Federation has started a vast clean-up operation on the issue of the civil status of Cameroonian footballers".
To tackle the problem, Fécafoot has decided to impose the computerized national identity card on all footballers from the age of 8.
A way to register young footballers biometrically, making potential identity trafficking more complex.
Still, Cameroon risks big.
The CAN regulations allow CAF to open an investigation to determine whether there has been fraud or identity theft on the part of the player selected by Cameroon.
If the facts are proven, the Indomitable Lions could be excluded from the next two editions of the African Cup of Nations.
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