Sierra Leone has been cleared to participate in this year’s Under-17 WAFU AFCON qualifiers in Senegal after a successful appeal re-qualified both Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.

The youth tournament leading to the U17 AFCON begins today, with host nation Senegal facing Liberia at 16:00 at the Lat Dior de Thies stadium. The complete fixtures will be announced again by the WAFU media department in due course.

On Sunday, WAFU announced that Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea would not take part in the tournament due to age cheating, according to the new rule outlined in Article 27.4 of the Under-17 African Cup of Nations regulations.

However, on Monday evening, the West African Football Union and the CAF Medical team reversed their decision after a satisfactory medical test confirmed Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau’s eligibility to compete in this year’s U17 AFCON qualifiers.

The new rule states in Article 27.4: “If, after carrying out the eligibility test (IRM) for a participating team, one or more of its players are deemed ineligible, the participating team will be disqualified.”

Sierra Leone has been requalified to participate, having met the necessary criteria after two of the five players in question were cleared. Additionally, Guinea-Bissau has been reinstated and will compete in the WAFU U17 tournament in Senegal.

Africa and Age Cheating

Guinea has a history of age cheating. In 2019, they were disqualified from the Under-17 World Cup in Brazil due to age violations at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, which served as qualifiers.

Despite runners-up at the U-17 Nations Cup in Tanzania in April, Guinea believed they had secured a World Cup spot by reaching the semi-finals.

WAFU A U-Turn: Sierra Leone U 17 reinstated after medical retest #SierraLeone #u17news #FSLMedia #FSLNews @Zoneouesta pic.twitter.com/0dOr138OBk

— Alie Bittar (@bittar32) October 21, 2024