By: Kwame Bediako
Former Ghana international Charles Taylor has raised serious concerns about age falsification in Ghanaian football. Speaking on Angel TV, the revered former Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko star revealed that he was 20 years old when he represented Ghana at the U-17 level, highlighting ongoing issues of age manipulation within the country’s youth football system.
Taylor strongly asserted that no Ghanaian talent under the age of 15 is truly capable of playing competitive football, dismissing claims of very young players participating in official youth teams. “Any child who claims to be under 15 cannot kick a football,” he stated. Despite the current presence of a U-15 team in camp at Prampram, Taylor remained firm in his stance, emphasizing that many players may be much older than their listed ages.
Addressing the issue further, Taylor insisted that players often falsify their ages to gain opportunities abroad. “No player can truthfully say that when he played for the U-17s, he was indeed under 17,” he claimed. He alleged that some players might be four or five years older than their documented ages, citing his own experience of using someone else’s passport to expose age discrepancies. “They were taking him to the U.S., claiming he was under 20 when he was actually 25,” Taylor disclosed.
The football icon’s revelations come amidst growing concerns over the fairness and authenticity of youth competitions in Ghana. Taylor’s career highlights include participating in Ghana’s 2004 Olympic team, where the team exited in the first round, and winning a silver medal at the 2001 Africa Youth Championship in Ethiopia. He earned 41 caps for the Black Stars, scoring 19 goals, and represented Ghana at the 2009 African Nations Championship, where the team finished second.
