Somali Magazine –
In the Council for East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) Zonal Qualifiers for the 2023 U17 Africa Cup of Nations competition, the Somalia Under-17 Football National Team defeated opponent Ethiopia 1-0 on Monday.
It was a historic victory for Somalia’s U17 football squad as it was the first game in the group stage of the AFCON CECAFA Zone.
There are fewer teams competing in the CECAFA qualifications now. The qualifying competitions only feature five nations: Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Burundi, and Tanzania.
On the ninth day of this month, Somalia will play Tanzania in its second game.
Sudan and Djibouti, according to a statement from the CECAFA headquarters, were disqualified for lying about their ages.
A number of players, according to the tournament’s administrators, failed the MRI wrist scans used to determine a person’s age.
In order to combat cheating in African age-group events, which FIFA claimed is more common because of subpar systems and record keeping, FIFA started performing MRI scans after the 2009 U17 World Cup in Nigeria.
After Rwanda and Eritrea failed to advance from Group A, there were a total of four national teams who were disqualified.