Youth tournaments need to tighten control over the ages of foreign players

Athletes have warned of the issue of manipulating the ages of foreign players participating in junior and youth football competitions, and the extent of its negative repercussions on the fairness of competitions and opportunities for developing national talents, in addition to its direct impact on the future of the club’s age-level sector. Specialized athletes believe that a number of players arrive at Emirati clubs with official documents and passports proving specific ages, but technical and physical indicators raise widespread doubts about their real ages, especially with the clear differences in physical structure and experience. technical, compared to the rest of the players within the same age group, and the athletes called on the Football Association to tighten control over the mechanisms for registering foreign players, by requiring clubs to attach medical reports related to age estimation in the registration files, before officially approving their participation in junior and youth competitions, with the aim of reducing cases of manipulation and enhancing the integrity of Sunni competitions.

More stringent steps

In detail, the director of Al-Ahly Youth Academy, Antar Marzouk, called for taking more stringent steps to control the ages of players in the junior and youth sectors, especially with regard to foreign players, warning of the repercussions of this phenomenon on the future of local competitions and the development of national talent.

Marzouk said: “The participation of players in age groups that do not correspond to their real ages has become a worrying phenomenon,” noting that “its effects are not limited to the technical aspect within the matches, but rather extend to harming the process of preparing national players who lose real opportunities for contact and fair competition.”

He explained: “The continuation of this phenomenon reflects negatively on the reputation of the age-level competitions, especially with the possibility of some of these players obtaining citizenship in the future, which may open the door to their participation with the national teams, which requires the highest degree of precision and oversight.”

He added: “Some developing countries may witness discrepancies or errors in registering birth data, which makes additional verification necessary to protect competitions, and not be satisfied with passports and official documents only, with the necessity of conducting accurate medical and scientific examinations, to determine the true ages of players, similar to what is applied in many sports federations around the world.”

Marzouk stressed that he “does not directly accuse any club of being involved in the issue of players’ ages,” explaining that “some clubs may fall victim to brokers or players’ agents who present members as being within specific age groups, before the matches reveal indicators that call into question the validity of those ages, especially among some nationalities about which observations have been repeated in recent years.”

Dangerous phenomenon

In turn, the general supervisor of the football school at Shabab Al-Ahly Club, Jamal Al-Bannai, called for the imposition of mandatory medical examinations to determine the ages of players, especially foreigners coming from outside the country, considering that “the phenomenon has begun to seriously affect age-level competitions and the goals of football development.”

Al-Bannai suggested that the Football Association issue a clear regulation requiring all clubs to conduct official medical examinations in government hospitals, stressing that government medical institutions possess sufficient capabilities and expertise to deal with these files accurately and professionally.

He said: “The damage is no longer limited to the competitive aspect only, but has extended to directly affect the basic objectives of junior and youth competitions, which are to prepare players to serve the national teams and clubs at the first team level.”

Al-Bannai confirmed the existence of such matters, and that their Sunni teams faced, through their participation, players over the age of 15 within this lower age group.

He explained: “We confirmed the matter after reviewing the participation of these players in an international under-15 tournament.”

He stressed that the physical and age difference caused direct damage to the team’s players, noting that four players suffered severe injuries as a result of the large differences in physical structure and age.

He added, “The real goal of age-level competitions must remain linked to serving the citizen player and benefiting from the resident player within the legal frameworks, and not opening the way for players coming from abroad with inaccurate documents or ages that negatively affect the reality of local competitions.”

Age estimation reports

The former general supervisor of the first football team at the Emirates Club, Khalifa Barot, confirmed that adopting age estimation reports for players of the age groups is a procedure in place in many continental and international tournaments, stressing that its application in local age group competitions will not represent a new step, as much as it will be an extension of regulatory procedures aimed at protecting the fairness of competitions and developing Emirati football.

Barot said, “The major tournaments, most notably the Junior and Youth World Cup tournaments, in addition to the African Cup of Nations competitions, have for years adopted special mechanisms to verify the ages of participating players, through medical reports and examinations related to age estimation, in order to limit any violations that may affect the equality of opportunity between the participating teams and clubs.”

He explained: “If such decisions will serve the future of Emirati football and ensure justice in local competitions, then everyone welcomes them, and I believe that the Football Association will take the lead in such decisions that will be in the interest of the game.”

He pointed out that “the goal of any new regulatory measures should not be understood as a restriction on clubs, but rather as a step to protect real investment in Sunni groups, especially since building a strong base for national teams begins with providing a fair competitive environment that gives emerging players equal opportunities to develop and prove their abilities.”

He added, “Many continental and international federations have become more stringent in this issue in recent years, due to the negative technical effects that may result from the participation of players whose ages exceed the specified categories, which is directly reflected in the physical and technical level of the competitions, and affects the opportunities for discovering real talent.”

The influence of brokers

The former director of football at Al-Nasr Club, Khaled Obaid, warned of the growing influence of brokers in Emirati football, stressing that their interventions are no longer limited to the first team and the deals of professional players, but rather have extended to the sectors of the age stages within the clubs, with negative repercussions on the future of the game and the development of national talent.

Obaid said: “Some brokers are behind the phenomenon of attracting players beyond the approved age groups in junior and youth competitions, with the aim of achieving quick financial gains, without taking into account the technical and development impacts that may result from these practices on the UAE football system.”

He added: “Unfortunately, there are those who deal with the age group sector with a purely commercial mentality, even though these groups represent the basic base for building national teams and clubs in the future, and they are the real supporter of the first team.”

He pointed out that “the continuation of such phenomena may directly reflect on the opportunities of national players to obtain playing minutes and develop their abilities in a fair competitive environment, in addition to affecting the credibility of age group competitions, which are supposed to be a space for discovering and honing real talent.”

The former director of football at Al-Nasr Club suggested that the Football Association move to contract with accredited hospitals that will be responsible for conducting age-assessment examinations for foreign players, with these reports attached to the official registration files before approving the registration of players in various competitions.

He stressed that these medical authorities must bear full responsibility for the accuracy of the reports issued by them before the specialized authorities, in a way that ensures enhanced transparency and limits any possible violations in the registration process.