Ghanaian coach Mohammed Yusif has disclosed that he was compelled to reduce his age by 20 years to get the chance to play for the junior national teams.
He indicated that while playing for Ebusua Dwarfs football club, there was a mini-tournament that severely injured him during the games, and he stopped playing.
The coach disclosed that in his quest to gain a call-up to play for the junior national teams, he halved his age, which at the time was almost 40 years, for official documents.
Yusif stated that the desire to impress foreign scouts who were interested in young players was another factor that influenced his decision.
“In 1986, I moved to Accra to play for a third-division club, but it was not easy for me. Later, I moved to join Madina Republicans and later joined Ebusua Dwarfs. I sustained a serious knee injury during a gala, which became chronic, so I stopped playing. While playing, there was no robust system to check ages, so we reduced ours. I was getting close to 40, but it was different in reality, though it was different on paper.
“I did so because most teams and foreign scouts wanted young players to play for a long time. The opportunity to play in U17 and other national teams was a factor,” he said in Twi in an interview with GMN Sports shared on YouTube.
He also noted that he has currently obtained his License D in coaching and is ready to take over any team, even the Black Stars, if given the chance.
“After quitting football, I went into teaching Arabic, and currently, I’m coaching a team with a License D, ready to coach the Black Stars if the opportunity comes,” he said.
Watch Coach Yusif’s interview below:
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