It has been confirmed that two African nations have been disqualified from a youth tournament after it was discovered that they were age cheating.
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Age cheating has been a prevalent phenomenon on the African continent for many years, and it has unfortunately reared its ugly head once again, this time in the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations regional qualifiers.
As per BBC Sport, Sudan and Djibouti have been banished from the continental showpiece's qualifiers after the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) discovered that the aforementioned nations were using over-aged players.
The regional governing body utilised magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the wrists of the players to discern the accuracy of their ages before the qualifiers began in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
CECAFA executive director Auka Gecheo revealed that CAF had agreed with the disqualifications, with Article 27.4 of the tournament's regulations stating: "If after performing the age eligibility test (MRI) for a participating team and one player was found non-eligible, the participating team will be disqualified."
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With the disqualification of Sudan and Djibouti, the regional qualifiers now only have six participants. Groups were redrawn following the departure of those nations, with hosts Ethiopia, Tanzania and Somalia battling it out in Group A, while Group B is constituted of Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan.
The tournament's finalists will represent CECAFA at the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria next year.
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