This is yet another inglorious episode for Congolese football and more particularly for the Congolese Football Federation (Fecofa)… A few hours following a 4-0 friendly victory once morest B. Sports, the body announced on Monday evening the withdrawal of the U17 selection of the DR Congo for the UNIFFAC U17 tournament, which begins on January 12 in Cameroon and which is a qualifier for the CAN 2023 in the category.
Fecofa gives two reasons. Starting with the massive cases of age fraud detected on the 40 pre-selected players during preventive MRI tests. “Following these tests, on the list of 40 players submitted, only 15 were validated and 25 rejected.“, justifies the instance in a letter addressed to the organizers. However, among the 15 remaining players, only 5 completed the necessary administrative formalities to go to Cameroon…
The #FECOFA decided on the withdrawal of the U17 selection from the Zonal Tounoi #U17 of #UNIFFAC planned in Limbe, Cameroon #RDC #RDCongo pic.twitter.com/OEc89GA2sR
— FECOFA (@fecofa_inland) January 9, 2023
«Very unfortunately, out of the 15 validated players, the procedures for obtaining passports have not yet been completed for 10 players, which makes it impossible for our selection to meet in Douala on January 10, 2023 to undergo the same test. MRI for age eligibility. (…) In view of these major difficulties, we inform you of the withdrawal of our selection from the U17 Limbe 2023 Zonal Tournament.“, concludes the document. It is therefore at four that Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic and Chad will compete for the two tickets for the final phase in Algeria.
