Gambia U-20 national football team has been disqualified from the 2015 Africa U-20 Championship qualifiers due to age cheating. In a statement released on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) website; cafonline, the decsion was reached by the organizing committee of the competition following a protest by Liberia on some players of Gambia during the first leg on Sunday, 6 April 2014, which Gambia won 1-0.
The players in question are Sampierre Mendy, Buba Sanneh, Boubacar Trawally, Saloum Fall and Ali Sowe. According to documents, the five were born in 1994 and are not qualified to participate in the competition reserved for players born on or after 1 January 1995, as stated in a circular dated 2 September 2013 sent to all Member Associations of CAF.
In view of this ruling, CAF states that Match Number 22 (second leg) Gambia – Liberia scheduled for 25-27 April is canceled, and Liberia has qualified for the next round.
It’s not the first time an African team has been banned from a competition for age cheating. In 2010, Uganda was disqualified from the U-17 Africa Youth Championship after using Ivan Ntege; an allegedly overage player.
