One of the scourges in football is age fraud, in which teams falsify the age documents of their players to gain an advantage over their opponents.
Age cheating is common in youth championships, and Africa is no exception. The Confederation of African Football does not take age cheating lightly, and appropriate penalties are imposed on offenders, whether they are associations, players, or officials.
Ghana has faced a number of age-cheating accusations in recent years, particularly at the Under-17 level for both the male and female national teams.
Three different age-cheating scandals have hit the country's key development stages of players' grooming, with two resulting in a ban.
Here are three times Ghana have been hit with age cheating
CAF bans Black Starlets two years for age cheating
Ghana was banned from participating in CAF U-17 AFCON qualifiers for a year in 2014.
Cameroon filed a protest against Ghana in September, alleging that the Black Starlets fielded seven unqualified players.
Retesting and MRI scanning revealed that one of the seven players- the team captain, Isaac Twum, was unqualified.
As a result, the Starlets were barred from competing in AFCON qualifiers for the next two years.
Ghana, who had already qualified for the tournament by defeating Cameroon, was disqualified, and Cameroon took Ghana's place.
Black Maiden's ban for two years for age cheating
Ghana was found guilty by CAF after Morocco protested the ages of two Black Maidens players, Nancy Amoh and Rasheeda Shahadu.
The ban means Ghana’s u-17 side would not partake in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup African Qualifiers and would have to pay a fine of $100,000.
The two players were also given a one-year ban each.
Following the protest by Morocco, the Ghana Football Association was allowed to contest the case over the accusations of a falsified birthdate.
However, the GFA failed to provide a defence statement to the CAF Disciplinary Board, leaving them with no other option than to rule over the case.
Despite not making a statement over the case, the GFA still has an opportunity to contest the ruling before the CAF Appeal Board.
Black Starlets players fail MRI test ahead of 2022 WAFU
Ahead of the WAFU U-17 tournament in Ghana in 2022. With three weeks until the tournament, coach Paa Kwesi Fabin's team was jeopardized due to an MRI failure.
After weeks of camping and getting his team in shape, the squad was forced to test a few days before the tournament at the request of the FA.
The test eliminated most of his players, forcing him to assemble a new team by playing a quick justify. The players chosen passed the MRI test and qualified.
The new squad went on to finish third in the competition, failing to qualify for the U-17 African Youth Championship in Algeria in 2023.
EE/BOG
Black Starlets and Black Maidens