As many as 15 players who turned up for assessment in the camp of the Nigeria U20 team with the intention of making the team were sent home by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on account of age falsification, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
The players were sent packing from the camp despite the fact that some of them were very impressive, and could easily have helped the team at the WAFU tournament in Togo , where they are in the same group with Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
Already the team have relocated to Ogun state, where they are having the final leg of their preparation without the affected players as they were dropped from the camp of the team in Abuja.
A team source said the idea is a further testament of the willingness of the NFF to eradicate the menace of age cheats at youth level in Nigerian football. He said although some of the players were victims of poor documentation or registration.
In their first test game at their new camp base in Ikenne, the team defeated Seamoriow FC 4-1 with top striker Ariehi Kparabo scoring a brace. While Kenneth Igbokwe and Ayooma scored from the spot.
