00:00Of the 21 U17 players, 7 were born on the same date, but what happened with Niger U17?
00:05In October 2017, Niger achieved the historic performance of qualifying for the U17 World Cup held in India for the first and, so far, only time in its history.
00:13And this generation still seems talented because a little while earlier, they finished fourth in the U17 competition.
00:19The problem is that of the 21 players who were selected for the U17 World Cup, 7 players were born on exactly the same date.
00:255 players were born on January 1, 2000 and 2 others were born on January 1, 2001.
00:29And here it's not just a disturbing coincidence, but it's also crucial for the tournament.
00:32Because for these 5 players born in 2000, well, if they had been born even just one hour earlier, they would not be eligible to play in the U17 World Cup.
00:39So inevitably a controversy erupts, I remind you of the African context where many African countries are accused of tampering with dates etc.
00:46Or not necessarily keeping their civil status records seriously.
00:48And just a few months earlier, during the U17 tournament which was organized a few months prior, 14 Cameroonian players were suspended after medical tests.
00:56Because indeed, for those who don't know, well, we can perform MRI tests on the cartilage of the wrist to know roughly if a player has passed the age of 17 or not.
01:04And since it's a process that's 99% reliable, well, when 14 players fail the test, it's questionable.
01:09But let's get back to Niger.
01:09Coach Luis Verdini will provide a cultural explanation for this.
01:13He will explain that in some regions of Niger, birth dates are not officially celebrated.
01:17So the age is declared later, particularly when issuing a passport.
01:21When we don't know the player's exact date of birth, we will use a generic date like January 1st, 2000 and 2001.
01:26That said, unlike in Cameroon, no anomalies were detected.
01:29On the sporting front, Niger had nevertheless made a perfect start to their 2017 World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory against North Korea.
01:35They then lost their group matches, 4-0 against Spain and 2-0 against Brazil.
01:39Niger will still qualify for the round of 16 of this World Cup on the 17th.
01:42But unfortunately for them, they will lose 2-0 to Ghana.
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