Dylan Bettencourt
Sudan and Djibouti both have been expelled from the regional qualifiers for the under 17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) after wrist scans showed several players were over the age limit.
The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) makes use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the wrists of players in order to determine their true age.
Cecafa executive director Auka Gecheo said the Confederation of African Football (CAF) approved the disqualification of Sudan and Djibouti.
Only six countries began the Cecafa tournament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday, the BBC reported.
A new draw was staged over the weekend with two groups now only having three teams each.
Tanzania, Somalia and hosts Ethiopia will contest Group A, whilst Group B is made up of Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan.
The tournament decides which two nations go to the 2023 under-17 Afcon in Algeria.
The tournament will also decide which teams head to Peru for the under-17 World Cup.
Age-cheating has long been an issue in African football following the inception of age-group competitions.
Poor systems have been blamed for players not knowing their true age as a result of poor record keeping with birth certificates often being inaccurate or unavailable.
Therefore Fifa, world football governing body, put the wrist scan protocol in place in 2009 to ensure age-cheating can no longer go undetected.
Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Sierra Leone have been offenders from sub-Saharan nations in recent years.
Ghana’s women under-17 team were banned from the next two editions of the World Cup as well as being fined R1.7 million after being found guilty of age-cheating earlier this year.
Image source: @JubaTV
