21 out of 30 players kicked out of squad
Age cheating rocks Cameroon’s youth national team
Huge fuss in Cameroon’s youth team. After failing an age test, the national football association immediately threw 21 out of 30 young players out of the squad.
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Vortex in the squad of the Cameroonian U-17 national team.
At the direction of federation president and footballing legend Samuel Eto’o, the entire U-17 squad had to undergo an MRI scan ahead of a Central African Football Association Championship qualifier to confirm their stated age.
When analyzing the X-rays of the hip bones, however, it was found that 21 out of 30 players were older than stated and therefore no longer allowed for the age group. The players were now immediately excluded from the association. We are now working on filling up the squad as soon as possible.
Eto’o is cracking down on it
Former Barça and Inter star Samuel Eto’o has only been president of the Cameroon Football Association since early December 2021. Apparently he has set himself the goal of stopping the age manipulations within the association and especially at the junior levels. In the past, these would have “damaged the image of the top association of Cameroonian football”.
Age manipulation has been a major problem in African football for years. Accusations and wild speculation kept coming up. Back when Nigerian U-17s caused a sensation at the 2009 World Cup (and later lost to Switzerland in the final), there were rumors that Nigeria had fielded players much older than stated. (hon)