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Why are footballers lying about their age?

And what are the consequences?

In Cameroon, 62 football players have been suspended from the domestic league for double identification or age fraud. One of them is 17 year old Wilfried Nathan Doualla who was part of the Indomitable Lions squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

There have been claims of age fraud in Cameroonian football for a long time now. Last year, 21 members of their under-17s squad failed age tests. Some of them were found to be in their late 20s and early 30s. But these allegations aren’t just limited to Cameroon - there have also been cases in Ghana and Nigeria.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport Africa reporter Oluwashina Okeleji explains why some players lie about their age and how clubs use MRI technology to work out if a player is under 18. Former Premier League footballer and Ghana international Kwesi Appiah talks about his experience of how age impacts players on the pitch. And Alex from the What in the World team chats about other cases of age fraud and age controversy outside football, from gymnastics to Mariah Carey.

Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: William Lee Adams
Producers: Julia Ross-Roy and Josh Jenkins
Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

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15 minutes

Last on

Sat 16 Mar 2024 03:50GMT
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia, West and Central Africa & East Asia only

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