Equatorial Guinea representatives in this year’s CAF Confederations Cup, Deportivo Niefang, lined up a player with a falsified passport in the preliminary round, first leg encounter against Cameroonian side New Stars,Soka25east can reveal.

In a match played at the Omnisport Stadium in Limbe on Saturday where Niafang lost 2-1, a player by the name Soumaila Kone played full minutes but what the opponents did not know is that the midfielder holds more than one passport with different birthdays.

Indeed, a copy of passport seen by our reporter which Kone used to register for 2016 CAF Champions League edition as a player of Racing Micomiseng is different from the one with which he used to register with Deportivo Niefang.

More evidence to support this is also found in the player’s biography for the 2017 CAF Confederations Cup edition which is hosted by African football governing body website which indicates that Kone was born on June 27, 1997 while his 2016 Champions League registration details read that he was born on June 27, 1987, that is 10 years younger.

Cases of Equatorial Guinea players using different passports to register in different competitions are not new in African football.

Two years ago, another Cameroonian club UMS Loum was the victim of such practices as by chance, against a club of Equatorial Guinea Deportivo de Mongomo.

Loum lodged a complaint with CAF, claiming that their opponents had used an ineligible player in the first leg in Douala, Simplice Dorcas, who used to play for fellow Cameroonian club Unisport du Haut Nkam under the name of Simplice Feutat.

The Cameroonian side won the case and were reinstated in the competition with their opponents Deportivo de Mongomo who had booked their spot for the last 32 of the competition were disqualified.

Normally if the rules are applied, Deportivo Niafang are likely be disqualified and suspended from all CAF competitions for a period of three years.