Last week, the Ministry of Sports announced that some 20 aspiring young football talents who were part of those selected to join the prestigious Bayern Munich Academy Rwanda had been disqualified due to age-fixing.
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Established this year as part of a partnership between Rwanda and German football giants Bayern Munich FC, the academy has been working to recruit youngsters under the age of 13 as it gets ready to start its operations.
During the recruiting process, however, players as old as 19 years applied, using fake documentation.
"They managed to get fake birth certificates and presented them so that they could be allowed into the academy,” a source at the Ministry of Sports told The New Times.
With such craftiness, the players in question thought they had gotten away with it, not knowing that the ministry was working on a plan to verify their ages.
Officials at the ministry approached the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) to compare the players’ academic records with their birth certificates, so as to get better clues about how old they are.
After the process, a number of players were found to be overage.
On an interesting note, among the disqualified players, there was one who, due to injury, was subjected to an MRI scan which found him to be between 20 and 21 years of age.
The Bayern Munich academy carried out its selection process on September 16 after an extensive nationwide talent search conducted by Rwanda's football governing body (FERWAFA) and the Ministry of Sports.
Richard Mugisha, the Second Vice President of the football governing body, FERWAFA, talking about the age-fixing issue, said they were aware of the possibility of age cheating during the selection process.
As a precaution, they had selected some reserve children to replace any prospects found guilty of age cheating.
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Despite the unfortunate 'age-fixing' issues, Minister Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju emphasized that the selections were conducted fairly, based on the children's abilities.
"The partnership between Rwanda and FC Bayern Munich shows great potential for the development of sports. When selecting the children, we assessed their skills, and they all showed promise,” she said.
The players accepted by the academy will have a number of benefits. All expenses, including the salaries of the Bayern coaches who will be mentoring the children, will be covered by the government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Sports.
The Bayern Munich Academy is part of the five-year partnership between the German football giants and Visit Rwanda. It is expected to revolutionize football development in Rwanda while providing youngsters with a landmark opportunity to hone their talent and reach new heights in the sport.