Kenya have been thrown out of the
under-20 World Cup qualifying competition for the 2017 finals in South Korea
for fielding five over age players, the Confederation of African Football (CAF)
said on Wednesday.
The east African country has been
disqualified for using the ineligible players in the first leg of a qualifier
for next year's Africa Cup of Nations, which also serves as the World Cup
qualifying tournament, against Sudan on April 3 which ended 1-1.
Kenya were due to host the return
leg this weekend but CAF has instead awarded Sudan a place in the next round of
the competition for places at the 2017 finals in Zambia.
African soccer's governing body said
Kenya's Theodore Kibet, Nicholas Kipkirui, Eugene Moses, Boniface Muchiri and
Erick Ouma were all born before the cut off date of Jan. 1, 1997.
“Football Kenya Federation clearly
violated the competition regulations and is consequently disqualified and the
U-20 Sudan team is qualified to the next round,” CAF general secretary Hicham
El Amrani said in a letter sent to the Kenyans.
Age cheating is notorious in African
football but offending football associations are rarely caught or punished.