A 19 year-old Gambia footballer, by the name Yusupha Yaffa, is facing fraud charges in Italy for allegedly duping Italian giants AC Milan after making a false claim about his age upon joining the club. Yaffa Who is believe to be actually aged, 28, claimed he was 16 when he joined Milan in 2013, only for it to be alleged that he was 25 back then.
Yusupha, who now plays for German side MSV Duisburg having left Eintracht Frankfurt on loan, joined Milan’s youth set-up three years ago before going on to become a regular in their Under-19 side.
Now the Italian authorities are investigating his age claims at the time of joining the Milan based club and they have summoned him to court in Italy after his Facebook profile revealed he is actually aged 28 as supposed to 19 as he claims.
The 19 year-old, is believed to be actually born in February, 1987, but he gave Ac Milan a different date of birth which was December 1996. This all became apparent after comments were made on Facebook by Yaffa in which he spoke of his previous schooling and not his current one, given he was alleged to be 16 years old at the time.
When questioned about the nine year gap between the two birth dates, Yaffa is said to have told the authorities the mix up came because he had lost his passports on a number of occasions in the past according to Italian newspaper Gazetta dello Sport. However, those claims were not satisfactory to the Italian authorities, who have now ordered the Gambian striker back to court in Italy, after been charged for fraud.
He has denied the charge, while former head coach Filippo Inzaghi and club executives Adriano Galliani and Barbara Berlusconi could all be required to attend the trial to give evidence.
Yaffa was also arrested in January 2015 for rape after an incident at a team-mate house. His club, Eintracht Frankfurt, posted the €100,000 bail meaning that Yaffa only spent one night in custody. But should the allegations of Yaffa giving false information surrounding his age prove true, he could then be tried in a regular court as opposed to a juvenile one, meaning any sentence could be considerably higher in the event of a conviction
Age fraud is a problem in African football and in May 2014, The Gambia was suspended by the Confederation of African Football, CAF, for age cheating after fielding five overage players in a U20 African Cup qualifier against Liberia. It was found five of the players used in that game were actually born in 1994, whilst the rules state that the competition is open to players born on or after 1 January 1995 and the country was only allowed back into the International fray after the intervention of the World Football Governing Body, FIFA, who ordered the dissolution of the Federation’s old executive. Now this case has re-opened old wounds and for The Gambian players looking to pursue a carrier in football must take heed and stay away from this sort of footballing malpractices
