Many players have been suspended by the Cameroonian football federation, which suspects them of having lied about their age. Among them, Nathan Douala, who was presented as the youngest of the last CAN with his announced 17 years.
Cameroonian football is in turmoil. The Cameroonian Football Federation published on Sunday the list of players selected for the up and down play-offs of the championship. And in the document, 52 player names are in red, with the following motif: “Double identity”.
In other words, Fecafoot suspects them of having lied about their marital status, and in particular about their age. Among them, we find a certain Nathan Douala, Victoria United player, who is in Rigobert Song’s selection for the African Cup of Nations.
Douala was not 17 years old…
With a date of birth announced as June 15, 2006, this midfielder was presented as the youngest of the CAN, with his “17 years”. But at the time, there were already serious doubts that the player’s face did not seem to have just come out of adolescence.
Players who lie about their age to declare themselves much younger and appear as prodigies in the eyes of recruiters is a scourge that has affected Africa for many years, and the extent of which has been difficult to measure with precision. Beyond the Douala case, the most spectacular, these numerous suspensions pronounced by the Cameroonian federation, which has the merit of tackling the problem, do not bode well.
