U-20 AFCON: CAF Disqualify Kenya For Fielding Overage Players

Kenya has been disqualified from the 2017 edition of U-20 Africa Cup of Nations by the Organising Committee of the tournament for fielding five ineligible players in their first round, first leg clash against Sudan played on Sunday, 3 April 2016 at the El Merreikh Stadium, which ended 1-1, CAF announced on Wednesday.


The African ruling body lists the overage players as: Erick Ouma Otieno, born on 27/9/1996; Nicholas Kipkirui, born on 31/5/1996; Boniface Muchiri, born on 23/8/1996; Eugene Moses Mukangula, born on 22/6/1996; and Theodore Kibet Kilele, born on 25/9/1996.

CAF say it sent a circular sent to all national associations that players born on 1 January 1997 or after are eligible to participate in the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Zambia 2017.

All the affected players were born before 1 January, 1997.

“The Organizing Committee after its findings concluded that the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) clearly violated article 40.11 of the competition regulations which states: ‘a team which allows a non-qualified or a suspended player to take part in a direct knock-out match shall lose the match and shall be eliminated from the competition, even in the absence of protests’.

“Consequently, the U-20 Kenyan National team is disqualified from the preliminaries of the AFCON U20 – Zambia 2017 and the U20 Sudan National team is qualified to the next round,” CAF General Secretary Hicham El Amrani said in a letter dated 19 April 2015 addressed to the CEO of FKF.