Zambia U-17 disqualified from COSAFA tournament for age cheating

Nicholas Mulilo

Zambia have been disqualified from the 2016 COSAFA Under-17 football Championships being staged in Mauritius for fieldeding two over-age players for the tournament.

An official statement from COSAFA issued today named the players as Nicholas Mulilo and Benjamin PhPhiri.

Consequently Malawi finish top of Group B and East African guest nation Kenya claim the runners-up spot.

Friday’s semi-final line-up therefore sees South Africa take on Kenya and Malawi play Namibia for a place in Sunday’s final.

Zambia’s disqualification follows fresh Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests carried out on forward Nicholas Mulilo and Benjamin Phiri in Mauritius, which found the players were over the age of 17 and therefore according to Clause 10.5 (I) of the tournament regulations are not eligible to compete in the competition.

Zambia had willingly submitted both players for re-testing in Mauritius after complaints from two countries.

The pair had been tested, along with the rest of the squad, in Zambia prior to their arrival at the tournament, as is mandatory for all players competing at the CAF Under-17 Qualifiers and U17 Youth Championships Final Tournament, but information sourced later from Confederation of African Football (CAF) indicated that these tests were incorrectly done.

The re-tests carried out in Mauritius revealed the players were not eligible to compete.