Jesus Christ! How do you get 26 players failing the test? How many are even in the squad to begin with?
African youth teams are often bedevilled with allegations of age cheating. It’s easy to see there are merits to the allegations too, as taking one look at squad members of countries like Nigeria, Gambia and even Ghana can tell you a lot about the grandfathers they send to these tournaments.
There was no official way to weed out this problem until recently, when Fifa introduced MRI testing for its age competitions. It’s not a foolproof measure, but does enough to weed out the massively overaged players.
So it turns out that Nigeria’s u-17 squad has been almost entirely weeded out, after tests carried out on them prior to qualifying for the 2017 African U-17 championship has led to 26 players being sent home.
The problem is so bad, the coach’s entire first team is left with only two players, and they now have to look to their back-up choices to make up the squad.
“It is a disaster,” one Nigerian FA official acknowledged.
“Virtually the first team the coaches have been working on have been disqualified. It’s a serious problem.”
Nigeria are only days away from a crucial qualifying game against Niger, leaving coach Manu Garba near panic.
The Nigerian U-17 side are the most dominant in the history of the age group, having won the world cup FIVE times.

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