Online Reporter
Fungai Muderere, Zimpapers Sports Hub
ALL the players taking part in the football competition at the TotalEnergies Confederation of African Football (Caf)) Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2026 COSAFA Qualifiers to be hosted by Zimbabwe starting on today have undergone Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) assessments to confirm their eligibility to compete.
It is a process that has been in place for some years now and leading sports physician Thulani Ngwenya, who is vice-president of the Caf medical commission and Cosafa medical officer, has previously spearheaded it in the region.
Ngwenya is a leading expert on the African continent and has vast experience in this field.
The tests are used to ensure the players are within the required birth date range for the competition, which starts from January 1, 2009, and follows the ineligibility of four sides from the Cosafa qualifiers for TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2021.
Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini and Zimbabwe were all excluded from the competition in 2020 after one or more players failed a MRI assessment.
Ngwenya has previously explained the importance of the tests for boys.
“MRI is a FIFA-approved method used to determine eligibility to play in the Under-17 age group,” Ngwenya said.
“The images are taken on the non-dominant wrist, which is usually the left hand. The image takes about nine ‘slices’ of the growth plate.
There are different stages of grading the growth plate, from one to six. Grade six is the last stage where the growth plate is completely fused.
“For the purpose of Under-17 tournaments, everyone who is a Grade six is therefore deemed ineligible to participate in this age group category. The Confederation of African Football introduced this method to make our sport to be fair and a level playing field.”
Ngwenya was quick to point out that a Grade Six result does not necessarily mean a player is ‘over-age’.
“This is an eligibility assessment, not an age determination assessment,” he said.
There have also been questions as to why the MRI tests are conducted on boys only, and not those competitors in the girls’ Under-17 competitions.
“Girls have a natural situation of a menstrual cycle that really affects the development of their bones and directly affects their bone density,” he explains.
Caf medical manager Sidiki Boubakary explains how the introduction of the MRI tests for the continental finals has seen a reduction in eligibility cases.
“As per the statistics, we move from 7% (2018/19 edition) of ineligibility to below 1% (2022/23 edition),” Sidiki told CafOnline.
“We never see over age players in the Under 17 category. Now, we are having true Under 17 boys playing.
“In Africa, we have our own realities that are different from those of some confederations such as UEFA. To give these young boys the chance to compete with players in the same category as them, we must continue with this MRI protocol. “And even provide a protocol for the upstream and downstream categories (U15 and U20) to achieve traceability leading to young and competitive players in senior categories.” -@FungaiMuderere
