WAFU-A U17 Tournament: The Guinea-Bissau Football Federation reacts to the disqualification of the national team

Guinea-Bissau's U17 national football team will not participate in the WAFU-A tournament, a qualifier for the Africa Cup of Nations in this age category. The West African Football Union (WAFU) has uncovered cases of age fraud among the players.

10 players on the team have exceeded the set age limit

At least that is what a senior official of the Guinea-Bissau Football Federation (FFGB), contacted by the website O Democrata, indicated.

"I can confirm that the national under-17 team was excluded from the WAFU-A tournament because ten of its players were over the permitted age. Upon their arrival in Senegal, all the athletes underwent age verification tests, and the results confirmed that ten of them were over the age limit set for the competition," the source explained.

"Player selection is based on information and documents provided by training centers."

In a statement released a few hours later, the FFGB indicated that it acknowledged the team's disqualification. However, it pointed out that information regarding the players' ages is provided by the academies that train them.

"The technical team selects players based on information and documents provided by training centers," emphasizes the FFGB.

It "calls on all stakeholders, including academies, managers and player agents, to demonstrate increased rigor in the verification and monitoring of players in order to prevent such situations from recurring in the future."

A major blow

She reaffirms her "determination to continue working with academies, technical teams and other national football stakeholders, with a view to strengthening the mechanisms for controlling, verifying and monitoring the eligibility of players in order to prevent situations of this nature from again compromising the participation of national teams" in international competitions.

It must be said that this decision by the WAFU (West African Football Union) deals a "severe blow to the aspirations of Guinea-Bissau football, particularly the work done with the new generation of athletes and the sporting objectives set for the competition." The WAFU-A U17 tournament, a qualifier for the Africa Cup of Nations in this age category, is taking place from Monday, September 7th to Sunday, September 20th in Senegal.