Moukoko scandal: In Germany, they thought he would be 22 years old and not 18

Youssoufa Moukoko is one of the most promising players on the international scene, His contract expires at the end of the season and the best clubs in Europe have already shown interest in signing the youngster. But since he began to stand in the lower categories of Borussia Dormund, the German player of Cameroonian origin has always been involved in controversies that make sure he is older.

Age fraud has been and continues to be one of the major problems in African football. There are many accusations and examples of situations where young Africans are older than their registration. Despite the fact that FIFA continues to monitor this situation, Chad was kicked out of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and Cameroon’s team had the same problems last week, when 21 of the 30 players were over tournament age.

In this context, rumors resurface about the real age of Moukoko, a German player born in Cameroon, that ever since he started excelling among the underlings of Dormund, he made sure he was older than recorded.

The young man was officially born in Cameroon on November 20, 2004 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and is 18 years old. He grew up in his home country and was only adopted by Joseph Moukoko in 2014 and acquired German nationality in 2014 when he arrived in Hamburg.. He is the youngest player in history to debut in the Bundesliga, as in 2020 he did so at the age of 16 years and 1 day.

According to him Daily MailYoussoufa Moukoko will be 22 years old (and would have been born in the year 2000 under the name of Youssouffa Mohamadou) and not 18. And another German medium like BUILD He pointed out that it is not clear that the birth certificate Moukoko gave to say it is from the year 2000 is authentic.

Controversy since 2017

The rumor about her real age completely exploded due to some statements from Ingo Preusscoach of the Dortmund under-23 team, when he was asked about it in 2017. “I imagine that Youssoufa’s age is estimated. He might be a year or two older, but he’s definitely not 17.” he said in an interview.

At that time, the most critical voices asked Moukoko to confirm his age, which, as stated in the register, would be November 20, 2004 in Yaoundé (Cameroon). Since then, Dormund has moved to deny these claims.

And so it is, because in the same 2017 the German Federation categorically denied that its documentation had any problem. “There is no doubt about the accuracy of the player’s age. In this regard, the DFB relies on the details of the player’s club of origin.”

Rumors from Germany

Controversy arose again, when allegedly her adoptive father leaked to an Austrian media a paper dated the year 2000 with the name of Youssouffa Mohamadou which would be Moukoko’s real name. Due to this situation, the German media will once again give voice to the issue of Moukoko’s age.

But this controversy can go furtherbecause of this leak it may be some kind of revenge from Moukoko’s adopters. Since it became known in October 2022, AS assured that the the relationship between the player and his parents is broken, and to become Moukoko with the help of his agent want to put the house they live in into a forced auctionbecause he thought his parents were taking advantage of him and wanted to take his money.

On the other hand it is more about the German magazine ‘Spiegel’ already He confirmed in November that Moukoko was receiving threats and pressure from his country so that he would not play the World Cup in Germany and instead in Cameroon. If he does not do this, from Yaondé (city of origin) they warn that they will publish the “real” background (according to threats) of his identity.

So despite speculations, the only official version published after FIFA’s investigation was that Moukoko was not lying and had the age he put on the record. Putting aside rumors such as leaks from the adoptive father, threats from his country or that he is older because in his teenage years he was talking to girls older than him, Moukoko is 18 years old old and a crack, more than the usual smoke of the tabloids, is one of the futures of European football.