FIFA cracks down on "age cheats"

FIFA - The world's soccer governing body is planning a crack down on youth-level players who lie about their age.
FIFA medical chief Michel D'Hooghe said Tuesday that FIFA has made progress on a medical test to screen the age of teenage players,
"We have been seeing that at our tournaments, especially the under-17 tournament, that there are countries that bring players who are clearly older but who have passports saying they are 16," D'Hooghe said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
"We already have proof that in the last tournaments some people participated who were in fact older than they claimed to be. For now though, there is nothing we can do with this information."
Experts are developing a system based on MRI technology to pinpoint players' ages before allowing them to compete in under-17 tournaments. FIFA already has experimented with the test on young players from different parts of the world.
D'Hooghe said results so far are "very encouraging" but not legally foolproof.
Further trials will take place during the Sep. 16-Oct. 2 FIFA U-17 world championships in Peru. It could take another year before FIFA introduces the tests officially, D'Hooghe said.

FIFA - The world's soccer governing body is planning a crack down on youth-level players who lie about their age.
FIFA medical chief Michel D'Hooghe said Tuesday that FIFA has made progress on a medical test to screen the age of teenage players,
"We have been seeing that at our tournaments, especially the under-17 tournament, that there are countries that bring players who are clearly older but who have passports saying they are 16," D'Hooghe said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
"We already have proof that in the last tournaments some people participated who were in fact older than they claimed to be. For now though, there is nothing we can do with this information."
Experts are developing a system based on MRI technology to pinpoint players' ages before allowing them to compete in under-17 tournaments. FIFA already has experimented with the test on young players from different parts of the world.
D'Hooghe said results so far are "very encouraging" but not legally foolproof.
Further trials will take place during the Sep. 16-Oct. 2 FIFA U-17 world championships in Peru. It could take another year before FIFA introduces the tests officially, D'Hooghe said.