Nigeria Should Have Played U17 AFCON Final : CAF Bans Guinea From Two Editions, Fined $100,000, Medals To Be Returned Within 21 Days

Nigeria should have played the final of the 2019 U17 Africa Cup of Nations against Cameroon after the Confederation of African Football found Guinea guilty of falsifying documents.

The Nigeria Football Federation filed a complaint to CAF over two non-eligible players named in Guinea's starting lineup in their 10-9 victory on penalties against the Golden Eaglets in the U17 Africa Cup of Nations on April 24.

The Nigerian Federation informed CAF that Aboubacar Conté and Ahmed Tidiane Keïta wearing the number 11 and 15 jersey respectively played in the tournament with different passports (born in 2002) from those they used in another tournament in Japan two years ago (born in 2001).

The Senegalese Football Federation had also complained to CAF and they are the biggest winners as they will replace Guinea as one of Africa's representative at the 2019 U17 World Cup.

CAF announced that Guinea is suspended for the next two editions of the U17 Africa Cup of Nations and both players with falsified documents, Aboubacar Conte and Tidiane Keita, are suspended from all football-related activities for two years.

The Guinean Football Federation was sanctioned with a fine of US$100,000.00 for the falsification of the information communicated concerning the participation of the players in the U17 AFCON tournament organized in Tanzania.

Half of this fine, in particular $ 50,000 (fifty thousand US dollars), is suspended for a period of four (4) years provided that the Guinean Federation is not guilty of a similar offense during this period.

CAF's Disciplinary Board also decided that all medals received by Guinea as finalists must be returned to CAF within 21 days, failing which a financial penalty of $ 20,000 will be imposed.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel