Due to age fraud during this year’s Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifications, Ghana’s Black Maidens has been barred from competing in two consecutive U-17 Women’s African qualifiers by the Confederation of African Football, CAF.
In addition, Ghana was handed a $100,000 fine by the Association.
This came about after Morocco objected to Ghana’s use of two Black Maidens players who were ineligible to compete in the most recent qualifiers.
Nancy Amoah and Rasheeda Shahadu of the Black Maidens squad provided incorrect information about their ages, the CAF claims, as they were older than the association’s minimum requirements.
The Ghana Football Association sent a formal defense to CAF in the meantime, but it was not taken into account.
The GFA has three days to notify the CAF Appeals Board of its plan to appeal and seven days to submit a written statement of appeal.
After Ghana was defeated by Morocco in the final round of qualification, the Black Maidens were unable to compete in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.
The 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be the 7th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the biennial international women’s youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 2008.
It will be the second time that India host a FIFA tournament after the men’s 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the first time that India host a FIFA women’s football tournament. Morocco and Tanzania will make their debuts. Spain are the defending champions, having won their first title in 2018.