Black Maidens’ World Cup spot in danger after 5 players accused of age-cheating

This follows suspicions by Morocco that some members of the Black Maidens team that played against them in the qualifiers for the U-17 Women’s World Cup were over the age limit.

The Maidens took a giant step towards qualifying for the World Cup after beating Morocco 2-0 in the first leg of the final round of qualifiers last Friday.

Ghana completely dominated their North African opponents, with goals from Stella Nyamekye and Nancy Amoh sealing an important home victory.

However, ahead of the second leg in Rabat, the Moroccans have raised questions over the ages of some of Ghana’s players.

The Graphic Sports reports that a technical meeting was held before the first-leg encounter, where the North Africans complained about the eligibility of some Ghanaian players.

The report said the Moroccans affirmed their point by claiming they had documents to prove five Ghanaian players were overaged.

But despite the Maidens’ management agreeing to withdraw those players, the report suggests the Moroccans still threatened to take the matter to FIFA.

According to the Graphic Sports, investigations are underway to ascertain how some players could have had different dates of birth on different documents.

This, the report said, was because some of the accused players “previously played against Moroccan sides in international friendlies, or even travelled to the North African country for which their biodata had been captured.”

The development puts Ghana’s qualification to the U-17 Women’s World Cup in jeopardy, especially if Morocco decide to push for the Maiden’s disqualification over the use of unqualified players.