A report by the Switzerland-based
Football Observatory has traced the usual under performance by many
African senior teams to massive cheatings carried out at their youth
levels. The CIES report listed Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon as countries
that have yet to hit full potential with their A-teams as a result of
wrong foundations set with the youth teams.
The report stated that despite fielding
the youngest players in 2015, the Super Eagles, Black Stars and the
Indomitable Lions have continued to struggle due to age cheating.
Even though several debates have been
made concerning the true ages of players in some teams, the January 2016
report, which is the most current of the CIES monthly research work,
casts doubt on the official ages registered by African footballers which
it claims is responsible for the untapped potential of African teams in
senior football.
The report published on January 12
listed Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon as teams that fielded the youngest
players among 50 sampled A national teams in 2015. The table had 24.7,
25.1 and 25.3 years respectively for the three teams.
The report read in part, “Important
differences were observed according to country. The highest average age
on the pitch was measured for Scotland: 29.0 years of age. Despite the
experience of players fielded, the Scots did not manage to qualify for
the final phase of the European championships. It is no doubt timely to
carry out an in-depth analysis to understand the reasons for multiple
failures over the past decades.
“At the other end of the scale, three
African teams fielded the youngest players on average: Nigeria, Ghana
and Cameroon. However, this result must be analysed carefully insofar as
footballers born in Africa tend to be older than they claim to be.
Lying about one’s age is a common practice that implies a competitive
advantage in youth categories. However, in the long term, this strategy
is counterproductive as it does not provide optimum conditions for the
full development of talent. This is one of the reasons for which the
real potential of African squads remains untapped.
“If we exclude African teams, the
countries having fielded the youngest players are the Netherlands and
England, with an average of 25.6 years of age. In the first case, the
bias towards youth has not been a success as the Dutch failed to qualify
for Euro 2016. For the English, on the other hand, the results have
been more positive.”
-Punch
