JUBA, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) announced on Sunday that its U17 team has been disqualified from the continental Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON U17) due to the ineligibility of five players following an MRI test.
Albino Kuek Deng, spokesperson for the SSFA, said the MRI test was conducted on April 26 to ensure all players met the age eligibility criteria.
"Unfortunately, we received notification from the Confederation of African Football (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," Kuek said in a statement in Juba, South Sudan's capital.
Kuek explained that they wrote a protest letter to the CAF medical committee in accordance with U17 regulations, but the medical team stated that their first and second readings remained the same.
The South Sudan Football U17 team had been placed in Group C of the AFCON U17 in Algeria, which began on April 29, alongside Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and Mali. ■
