“We are doing a major clean-up operation. Some players have been lying about their age for ten years. When Samuel Eto’o took office as president of the Cameroon Football Association in 2021, it turned out that more than 60 percent of the footballers (playing in the two highest divisions, Elite One and Two, ed.) had manipulated their age.”
Ernest Obama, spokesman for the Cameroonian football association FécaFoot, admits in the French sports newspaper L’Equipe that age fraud is a widespread problem in the African country. Just like in the Jupiler Pro League, the play-offs will start soon, but it is not the title denouement that is the talk of the town, but the large-scale cheating among players.
The Football Association recently suspended 62 players from fifteen different clubs because they were caught in administrative tampering. Some have lied about their real age and pretended to be younger than they are, while others have committed identity fraud.
Same scar, same tattoos
One of the most remarkable examples is the case of Wilfried Nathan Douala. At the age of 17, he was considered the top talent in Cameroon. He was the youngest player in the domestic competition and was part of the national team at the last Africa Cup. After research by Fécafoot, it now appears that the young promise is actually 31 years old.
The French newspaper Le Monde previously reported that the Victoria United midfielder, described in his own country as a ‘gold nugget’ and a ‘rare pearl’, looks exactly like Alexandre Bardelli: apart from the same scar, he also has identical tattoos. Along with Leonel Ateba, Douala was one of only two local players in the Indomitable Lions’ 27-man squad at the Africa Cup.
It is possible that the matter will continue to evolve. Because according to the regulations of the Africa Cup, the African Football Confederation (CAF) can initiate an investigation to determine whether there has been deliberate fraud or identity theft. If that is the case, the national team in question could be excluded from the next two Africa Cups.
Biometric control
According to Obama, the problem is partly due to the transfer policy of European clubs. “The fact that European clubs do not bring players over the age of 23 from Africa is the main cause of this situation,” L’Equipe said. “Players who are not discovered at a young age do not end up in the top divisions until they are 24 or 25. Then it is already too late for them. So they lie about their age to still have a chance.”
It is not the first time that Cameroon has been confronted with the phenomenon. At the beginning of last year, the federation decided to have bone scans carried out for the African Cup of Nations qualifying series for players under 17 years of age. Ultimately, he had to remove 21 of the 30 players from the selection because they turned out to be older than they claimed. Afterwards, eleven called-up replacements also turned out to be too old to play for the team.
To combat age fraud, the Football Association has now introduced an automated national identity card for all football players aged 8 and over. The intention is to register all players biometrically, making possible identity forgery more difficult. (dsd, jh)
