Confederation of Africa Footbal Executive Committee has approved the recommendations made by the Organizing Committee for Youth Football and the Medical Committee to amend Article 27 of the Regulations of the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, in particular relating to eligibility tests.
The question of age comes up repeatedly in African competitions and especially during the last Under-20 AFCON in Egypt.
To do without all these controversies, CAF has taken firm measures about the age of the players who will have to take part in the African Cup of Nations Under 17 since the qualifying phase.
“For the qualifying phase, an eligibility test will be carried out for all participating teams before the start of matches.
The test will be carried out by the CAF protocol in a health establishment equipped with an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine.
For the final tournament, CAF reserves the right to make another eligibility test (MRI) for the players of the twelve (12) teams. The cost of the MRI tests will be borne by CAF,” the continental body said in a press release on Monday.
In the event of fraud or irregularity in the age of young people, measures have also been announced such as the suspension of the players in question if they do not exceed 3 or the suspension of the team if 4 players from the selection are concerned by age fraud.
“If after performing the Eligibility Test (IRM) for a Participating Team and, (4) or more of its Players are found to be ineligible, the entire Participating Team will be disqualified.
If, after having carried out the eligibility test(s) (MRI) for a participating team, one (1), two (2) or three (3) of its players prove(s) ineligible, the player(s) will not be allowed to participate in the competition.
Their team will be allowed to participate in the competition, but will not be allowed to replace the ineligible player(s), ” the CAF statement revealed.