Youth teams of Bengaluru FC, Ozone FC and Jammu United FC disqualified for age fudging

What's the story?

The youth teams of Bengaluru FC, Jammu United FC and Ozone FC have been disqualified by All India Football Federation (AIFF) from its respective age-group tournaments for fielding over-aged players in the youth leagues.

In case you didn't know...

AIFF launched the U-15 league in 2014 and it has been a huge success with players like Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem and Jeakson Singh going onto play for the Indian U-17 team while the U-13 league was launched recently in 2016 which has given a stage for promising talent to showcase their potential at a very young age.

The heart of the matter

The U-13 team of Indian Super League side Bengaluru FC has been disqualified for age fudging while Ozone FC, a team playing in I-League second divison and Jammu United FC have had their U-15 teams disqualified for the same reason.

For Bengaluru FC U-13 team, Ankith P was ineligible but still managed to play while for Ozone FC Under-15 team, it was Akash Chander Jadhav who was found guilty.

There were scenes of joy in the newly formed professional club Jammu United FC when their U-15 team qualified for the tournament by beating real Kashmir 1-0 in a do-or-die match. But, all the good effort and hard work have been wasted by the club as they fielded two overage players in Rohit Yadav and Shreyan Dev Singh.

What next?

The three youth teams which have been disqualified from their respective leagues while all the players found guilty have been banned by AIFF's disciplinary committee from taking part in any of the tournaments organised by AIFF for the next twelve months.

Author's take

It is not the first time that players have been found breaching their age group as Mohun Bagan's U-18 team was disqualified in the last season from their age-group league. AIFF needs to be more strict so that things like these don't happen in future.