CAF Disqualifies Guinea From FIFA U-17 World Cup

CAF Disqualifies Guinea From FIFA U-17 W’Cup By Our Correspondents Guinea have been disqualified from the next two editions of the CAF U-17 Cup of Nations and the next FIFA U-17 World Cup after fielding two ineligible players – Aboubacar Conte and Ahmed Tidiane Keita – in an AFCON U-17 game in Tanzania against Senegal in April. Guinea were also fined $100,000 with half of the amount suspended for four years. The decision was made last week by the Confederation of African Football’s Disciplinary Council, which met at the governing body’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt to reach a consensus after a complaint by the Senegalese Football Federation concerning the aforementioned players. The dates of birth revealed before the game indicated that Conte and Keita were born in 2002, which contradicted the pair’s details as they were submitted for a youth tournament in Japan in 2017, which showed the duo’s dates of birth to be in 2001. Guinea finished as runners-up at the U-17 Nations Cup, defeating Nigeria on penalties in the semi-final, before a shootout defeat at the hands of Cameroon in the final. Senegal, who originally finished third in Group B, behind Cameroon and Guinea, therefore missing out on U-17 World Cup qualification, will now represent the continent in Brazil. Also the players’ involved were banned for two years from any football related events. CAF has instructed Guinea to return medals received within 21 days failure which they will pay a fine of $20,000. Age cheating has been a persistent problem in African football, with FIFA introducing MRI scans to check the ages of players at the 2009 U-17 World Cup, which was held in Nigeria.