According to recent reports, Cameroon faces a possible disqualification from participating at AFCON 2025 and the CAF Championship tournament as well.
Following the recent suspension of 62 players by the Cameroon Football Federation following the inconsistencies that exist in their ages and identities reports now indicate that the country faces a possible disqualification from AFCON 2025 and also the CAF championship after one of such players had been taken to the AFCON 2023 tournament in Ivory Coast.
How does this affect Cameroon's chances of playing at AFCON 2025 and CAF Championship?
Victoria United player Wilfried Nathan Doualla who was included in the AFCON 2023 squad for Cameroon was one of the players suspended for falsifying his identity and according to BBC Sports, if he is found guilty of falsifying his age, this would lead to the ban of Cameroon from future CAF tournaments such as AFCON 2025 and CAF Championship.
BBC Sports stated, "Doualla did not feature at this year's Nations Cup finals, where Cameroon were knocked out in the last 16 by eventual runners-up Nigeria. Yet, after being called up by then coach Rigobert Song, there was much comment on social media about whether Doualla was really a teenager when pictures of the player first surfaced. His inclusion in the squad in Ivory Coast could lead to the five-time African champions being banned from future tournaments if his registration is proved to have been falsified. Nations Cup regulations state that if a fraud or a forgery has been committed, the national association concerned will be suspended from participation in the following two editions of the continental showpiece. For any administrative error in the registration of players, the national association concerned will be suspended from the next edition, the rules add."
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Who are the 62 players suspended by Cameroon?
Fecafoot, the Cameroon Football Federation, has suspended 62 players from the domestic league due to inconsistencies related to their identities. This includes a player who was selected for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) earlier this year.
On Monday, Fecafoot released a list of player registrations for the Cameroonian first division play-offs, which showed that 62 players would be ineligible. Among these players, 52 from 15 different clubs were suspended under the charge of ‘double identity’. One of the players suspended was Wilfried Nathan Douala, who played for Victoria United and had been surprisingly called up by Rigobert Song for Cameroon’s AFCON campaign. Douala, who was officially listed as 17 years old for the tournament, was the youngest player to be called up for AFCON.
However, doubts had been raised about his age and identity by French newspaper Le Monde, which had investigated him. The newspaper claimed that Douala had previously played in the Cameroon league under the name Alexandre Bardelli, and was at least 23 years old. Douala did not play in any matches during AFCON. Le Monde has said that it asked Fecafoot for an explanation, but the federation declined to comment.
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