New Delhi: The FIFA U-17 World Cup is a youth tournament that only players born on or after 1st January 2000 are eligible to participate in and every national U-17 team is bound to abide by this guideline. But, after defending World Champions Nigeria were caught in a major age-fraud scandal, the officials are taking no more chances.
According to latest reports in the Times of India, all the players participating in the competition will have their wrists scanned by MRI to check their eligibility.
The move was confirmed by the FIFA after Nigeria, the most successful team of the tournament, who have won the trophy a record five teams were caught guilty of playing 26 players who were over-age in August.
It not only ruled them out of the tournament but also forced FIFA to introduce the Magnetic Resonance Imaging equipment in the 17th edition of the U-17 World Cup.
“While it is the responsibility of each member association to ensure that their players meet the age requirements, FIFA has decided to conduct magnetic resonance imaging of the wrist at its U-17 competitions,” said a top FIFA official.
The equipment has the capacity to determine whether a player is below seventeen, through MRI scans and also can inform if the player has stopped growing after 17.
Meanwhile, the U-17 World Cup is all set to begin on October 6 in India. Former champions Ghana will take on Colombia in the opening match.
This year with the absence of Nigeria (who has always been a strong co tender for the World Cup), the tournament is expected to be an open one and which ever team plays best will walk away with regards trophy.
“All the European teams are very strong, including Spain and England, while Mexico, United States and the South American sides will pose a threat,” said Brazilian coach, Carlos Amadeu.
The host nation will however start the tournament as the underdogs and will look to make some big upsets in order to qualify for the next round.