Ex-Ghana FA chief Ben Koufie plans to make a recommendation to FIFA to ban Nigeria and Ivory Coast from playing at the U-17 World Cup for age cheating.

Koufie says he will make a recommendation to the world football's governing body to ban countries from age-group competitions if any of their players fail age tests.

Magnetic Resonance Image scans have been used by both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football to check on the true ages of players as the clampdown on age cheats intensifies.

Nine players were banned from the African U-17 event after failing tests.

The players hailed from Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Congo.

Now Nigeria and Ivory Coast have qualified for the World Cup to be held in the UAE later this year.

Koufie, who has worked with the technical committees of both CAF and FIFA, now wants FIFA to enforce tougher punishments for teams whose players fail MRI scans.

"I am going to make some recommendations to FIFA that it should just not be a matter of disqualifying players from tournaments when they have failed their MRI in a specific competition," Koufie told BBC Sport.

"If the players played in the qualifying matches for that competition, that team must be disqualified because it used disqualified players in the qualifying process.

"Once you are caught and it is proven that the player played in the qualifying matches then you have to be disqualified.

"Coaching at this level must be taken seriously because that is the formative stage. The U-17 is not a must-win area."

"I am worried about it because it is not fair at all to the youngsters. It is called U-17 because it is a development stage."


http://odili.net/news/source/2013/apr/30/833.html

And what makes this guy think ghana are not guilty of this too?

i totally concur with this guy and hope fifa approves it

Ghana's untimely elimination from U-17 AFCON

♫♪♫Bad belle, na em dey worry you....♫♪♫

Ghana hmm . hater

E dey craze!

They've won the tournament both at the world and continental stage, were all the ghanian players used to win the competitions really under 17years?

Is it Michael Esien that claimed he was born on the 3rd of December 1982 or Asamoah Gyan claiming to be born on november 22, 1985 or Samuel Kuffour claiming he was born on the 3rd of september, 1976?

I understand the Ayew brothers may likely have a perfect age cos they aren't really Ghanian bred.

This issue is an entire african cheat with all countries involved.

So far his country didn't perform well in the tournament shouldn't mean he should find a demeaning excuse to cover up his own deficiency.

B4 na ghana must go frm nigeria, now ghana must leave africa na d nxt tin.
D guy suppose shame himself

I totally support this move.

Ok. Lol.

Ghana again...what is d problem of dis ghanian self..from now till enternity nigeria is oga @ d top for ghanian

Ghana don fex

Nigeria = Rikichi

The Ghanaian man has made valid points, sadly, i concur.

Even if 9ja and Ivory Coast were banned, Ghana would still not win the U-17 tournament. So why the unnecessary hating Mr. Ben Koufie ?

And I thought Your Elders had common sense That The young Ones here did not, , , bottom Line,Once a young Ghanaian---

Though this is a nice point, bt seriously if countries like nigeria and ivory coast are banned in african matches who go come play match na? Abi na ghana with their 7-0? Nice point though.

Sounds good..especially nigeria who are serial cheats

y FIFA and not CAF?

Bad belle Ghanias! Never in short supplies.

Lol Ghanaian are always crying in sport lol..
Have fun and move on my brother

Nothing makes cheating right, you may call it bad belle or whatever...but the guy is right. Nigeria and some other African countries have been cheating in these age group competitions from time immemorial. I remember the Philip Osondus...you then wonder why their legs get tired once they play 1 or 2 season as professional...it's because they are old men before they even get noticed. We should change our ways cheating is wrong...i know most Nigerians are so used to cheating and corruption that it seems right to them. It's not right y'all, we need to work on this rather than engage in the hypocritical religious bigotry we engage in on this forum.

kevoh: Even if 9ja and Ivory Coast were banned, Ghana would still not win the U-17 tournament. So why the unnecessary hating Mr. Ben Koufie ?

#Fact 1

In other developments, a seasoned Ghanaian football administrator admits Ghana has been cheating for ages:
Veteran Ghanaian football administrator, Abbey Pobey claims the country can never win a title at the Under-17 level following the introduction of the MRI age-cheating test.

The Black Starlets recorded their worst defeat at the junior level in their country’s rich footballing history when they were hammered 6-1 by perennial rivals Nigeria in their opening match at the ongoing African Under-17 Championship in Morocco.

The Ghanaians were completely dazed by Nigeria who recorded their heaviest win over their opponent at the junior level in Marrakesh.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducted an MRI test on all the players of the eight teams before the start of the championship.

Nine players including three Nigerians, three Ivorians and three Congolese failed to beat technology.

However a depleted Nigerian side were too hot for the Ghanaians to handle and the Neoplan Stars owner claims the country will struggle to win any title on the continent with the introduction of the age-cheating test.

“We shouldn’t tickle ourselves and laugh. I am saying that we can never win any title if we use the right ages,” Pobey claimed on Happy FM

“We have to understand that we have cheated at the U17 level for many years and we must now adjust to the new system.

“It’s a good start for us. We should look at the growth of the players and expects to win titles at the senior level but never at the junior level.

“Take it from me, we can never win the U17 again if we don’t cheat. I wasn’t surprise we lost to Nigeria.

“My only disappointment was that we lost by that humiliating margin. But the truth of the matter is that if we use our right ages, we can never win.

“I think Ghanaians should get use to that so we can continue to focus on building on their talents for future prospects.”
CAF introduced the MRI test ahead of the start of this year’s competition in order to combat the widespread issue of age-cheating.
The competition which has been thought to contain over- aged players for many years is now separating ‘the chaff from the wheat’ by employing the use of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to scan the wrist of the players thereby determining the bone density.

I would have said the man is spot on had it been that he's neutral in thia issue, but he's a Ghanaian and he's saying this for a selfish motive. Ghana wei no fit win one match for Africa wan go follow oyinbo play instead of them to manage the 6-1. Anyway, the man is free to waste his ink and paper.

who told them to bring kids to play with fathers wat do day expect magic?

azonto or alingo ...which one is it?

Make d guy go sidon jare

ola_pluto: In other developments, a seasoned Ghanaian football administrator admits Ghana has been cheating for ages:
Veteran Ghanaian football administrator, Abbey Pobey claims the country can never win a title at the Under-17 level following the introduction of the MRI age-cheating test.

The Black Starlets recorded their worst defeat at the junior level in their country’s rich footballing history when they were hammered 6-1 by perennial rivals Nigeria in their opening match at the ongoing African Under-17 Championship in Morocco.

The Ghanaians were completely dazed by Nigeria who recorded their heaviest win over their opponent at the junior level in Marrakesh.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducted an MRI test on all the players of the eight teams before the start of the championship.

Nine players including three Nigerians, three Ivorians and three Congolese failed to beat technology.

However a depleted Nigerian side were too hot for the Ghanaians to handle and the Neoplan Stars owner claims the country will struggle to win any title on the continent with the introduction of the age-cheating test.

“We shouldn’t tickle ourselves and laugh. I am saying that we can never win any title if we use the right ages,” Pobey claimed on Happy FM

“We have to understand that we have cheated at the U17 level for many years and we must now adjust to the new system.

“It’s a good start for us. We should look at the growth of the players and expects to win titles at the senior level but never at the junior level.

“Take it from me, we can never win the U17 again if we don’t cheat. I wasn’t surprise we lost to Nigeria.

“My only disappointment was that we lost by that humiliating margin. But the truth of the matter is that if we use our right ages, we can never win.

“I think Ghanaians should get use to that so we can continue to focus on building on their talents for future prospects.”
CAF introduced the MRI test ahead of the start of this year’s competition in order to combat the widespread issue of age-cheating.
The competition which has been thought to contain over- aged players for many years is now separating ‘the chaff from the wheat’ by employing the use of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to scan the wrist of the players thereby determining the bone density.

That sums it up, thank God it came from the mouth of a Ghanaian himself. There is no crime Nigerians commit that Ghanaian dont do even worst. Tell me which of Ghanaian player is using his real age? I know 2 family members of Esssien, he is at least 10 years older than what he claim on paper. Is it Asamoa Gyan, or Mensah? Ghana has been cheating for years.

Under 17 cannot work in nigeria i don't know for the girls but the boys i think under 17 in nigeria is impossible. Lets think about it under 17 still dey street dey play choosing and O G O.
Under 17 never get money to bribe into the national team. How will under 17 be able to reduce its age so that he will be able to play plenty game and make more money before he retire. Under 17 has not ripe yet to make plenty money for who sponsor him

Mr Ben Koufie one word, kwasia !

"Ghana". like really? i didnt even know about this. its Ex-Ghana FA chief Ben Koufie. dont generalize it as ghana. these are the kind of things that bring up e-wars.

This is nothing but sour grapes from Ghana who appear to be in decline as a country.

It is a pity.

imperiouxx: Ghana's untimely elimination from U-17

♫♪♫Bad belle, na em dey worry you....♫♪♫