South Sudan Disqualified from 2023 CAF U17 AFCON : South Sudan has been disqualified from the tournament after five of their players failed the MRI Test used to ensure that all the players meet the age eligibility criteria.
The tournament takes place in Algeria from 29th April to 19th May 2023.
The South Sudan Football Federation confirmed that the development in a statement issued by the Federation’s spokesman Albino Kuek Deng their their official Facebook page.
See the Press Release from the South Sudan Football Association :
South Sudan U17 National team Disqualified from AFCON U17 Algeria 2023 Due to Non-Eligibility of Five (5) Players After MRI Test.
The South Sudan Football Association regrets to announce that our team has been disqualified from the AFCON U17 Algeria 2023 due to the non-eligibility of five (5) players after the MRI test.
The MRI test was conducted on the 26th April 2023 to ensure that all players meet the age eligibility criteria set by the competition’s regulations. Unfortunately, we received yesterday 28th April 2023 notification from CAF that five of our players did not pass the MRI test and were deemed ineligible to participate in the competition.
Although two of the five players were part of the team which participated in the zonal qualifiers and passed the MRI eligibility in Ethiopia last September 2022.
We immediately wrote a complaint to CAF medical committee an official complaint against their decision attaching the MRI results we did in Juba , in accordance to Article 27.6 sub article (iii) of the U17 regulations.
The complaint was rejected by the medical saying that their first and second readings remains the same.
We fully understand and respect the decision made by the competition’s organizers, and we apologize to our fans, sponsors, and partners for any disappointment this may cause.
South Sudan Football Association would like to emphasize that we have always been committed to fair play and sportsmanship.
We have taken all the necessary steps to ensure that all our players meet the eligibility criteria set by the competition’s regulations. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, some of our players were unable to participate in the competition.
We would like to thank our fans, sponsors, and partners for their continued support, and we look forward to participating in future competitions. SSFA will conduct a press conference for more information about the team disqualifications.
The CAF Decision is reproduced below :
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