Age fraud, double identities in Cameroon football: Agents, guidance, parents, federation must share the blames

By Nchanji Hanon Nfor

Behind the glamour of Cameroonian local football, there have been hidden truths about the identities of the players who make headlines on local and international pages. This truth about the ages and identities of players has left many wondering if they should continue to love football only, or also attach sentiments to their icons who now seem to have used several identities to remain young in their old ages.

Cameroon is among the top countries in the world when it comes to collective and individual sports. Cameroon is the second giant in Africa when it comes to the Africa Cup of Nations with Five trophies, the highest is held by Egypt, Seven. But Cameroon has made more international headlines in football than Egypt, making the country an iconic consideration when talking about football. But behind these glories, lies a dark side; that of double identities.

Players have in the past years been forced to reduce their ages or change their names to maintain a younger age, while others have had about three different birth certificates just to navigate the football world and make it out of their homes. Most competitive leagues in Europe will not accept a player who is near retirement. That is why some players will prefer to appear old but young in their documents.

The Cameroon Football Federation, on March 10, 2023, released a list of over 60 players from 15 Cameroon clubs who have double identities and or disparities in their ages. The players and clubs had until Monday afternoon to appeal the exclusion, or it will remain definite. Among these players is the now-popular Wilfried Nathan Doualla, a 17-year-old midfielder who plays for local club, Victoria United. Nathan was part of the 2023 AFCON expedition to Ivory Coast, but his call raised several questions about his age.

In 2014, former CAF Media Director, Junior Binyam told the BBC that age fraud is a problem in Africa because countries do not have a reliable database to track ages.

“It is easy in many countries to change ages or ‘amend’ those registers. It is not rare to find people with more than one birth certificate…In some cases, when the player changes identity, he can, most of the time, be registered as a new player. The fraud on ages then affects the development programs if the players involved in an age category are not really from that category.” He told the BBC Sports.

This practice has not only tarnished the image of Cameroon football, but has also left fans disappointed and made a mockery of the discipline and the beauty of fair play. There are therefore several persons who are responsible for not allowing the beautiful game of football to become a subject of ridicule.

Cameroon Football Federation  

The Federation, led by former captain, Samuel Eto’o Fils has a big part to play in this double identity drama. While many commend them for finally releasing a list of players with questionable identities, revelations have it that the federation was notified ahead of time but did nothing. After the publication of a list of selected players for the 2023 AFCON, the French news site, Le Monde, revealed that they contacted the Cameroon Football Federation, to inquire about the real age of Wilfried Doualla Nathan, whether he was 17 years and not 23. This happened because this media produced a report in 2021 with this Wilfried who was called Alexandre Bardelli and was 21 years old at the time. Le Monde explained that Fecafoot did not respond until March 10 when they finally unveiled the list of players with questionable dates of birth. Fecafoot must first as a tutor create a more ethical and accountable environment for the betterment of Cameroonian football for a more transparent and fair playing field.

Football Agents

Football agents are only interested in making profits from the transfer of a player than respecting the ethics of the profession. That is why they hold a key to stopping players from reducing their ages. But these agents are the ones who encourage the age-cutting exercise. They are the key players in this activity because most documents are compiled by agents, who later scout for clubs and negotiate salaries. Since most agents know Europe is an eldorado in football transfer, they can do everything to have their share.

Parents and Guidance

When a young man starts playing football and the family discovers that he can make it big out there, the first thing they do is talk about his age. If he remains in Cameroon for a while before going out, who will sign him at such 24? These are some critical issues parents and guidance consider first before allowing their children to play for clubs. At some point, a naïve child of 15 whose age has been reduced to 10, will not have a word to say because his parents are the ones financing his career and of course, he must have heard from his friends and seniors that playing football at their real ages, will hurt their income and career.

The case of Wilfried Nathan is just one out of many such instances, but because they are not often in the limelight, they easily go unnoticed. Cameroon must stop exporting such unethical behaviors by taking a proactive approach to investigate all players who have signed to the local leagues and make sure that during transfer abroad, their names and ages remain unchanged.

CAF sanctions?

The World Football Governing body, FIFA introduced the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI, in 2009 during the U17 World Cup in Nigeria to help check the ages of players. But federations are now compelled to go through this practice before determining a player’s age.

In 2023, CAF announced the disqualification of Chad from the Central African Football Federations Union (UNIFFAC) qualifiers, citing a mass failure of the players in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) age test results which turned out the majority of the players were overaged, ANW reported. This happened after over 80% of players failed the MRI test.

Having a double identity in football is not only fraud but one of the most talked about unethical practices in African football. The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has previewed these things in her texts.

CAF’s competition regulations, updated in 2021, in chapter 20 speak of forgery, fraud, and administrative error, all sanctionable by the Confederation of African Football.

Article 45 of Chapter 20, says, “If CAF is informed, no matter the source, that a fraud or a forgery was committed by any means and /or support whatsoever by one or more national team(s), an investigation will be opened”.

While in Article 46, CFA stressed that, “In case the alleged facts are true, the national association concerned will be suspended from participation in the following two editions of the AFCON.”

Article 47 speaks about a single suspension from AFCON due to administrative error, “For any administrative error in the registration of players, the national association concerned will be suspended from participation in the next edition of the AFCON, and its team will be eliminated from the competition if the latter is still ongoing”.