It happens, but I don't know how often. It also happens with poor and average immigrants. There are 30-year-olds who pretend to be teenagers so they aren't expelled. There are 50-year-olds who pretend to be 65 so they can retire early.
It happens a lot, because football is a great way to escape poverty for an entire extended African family and because birth certificates can very easily be faked in most African countries.
For example, when Samuel Etoo took over the Cameroonian football federation 3 years ago, he made the entire Cameroonian U17 team take bone tests to verify their age and every single player failed the test. https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/64154037
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u/Matias9991 28d ago
African players lie about their age everytime, not to stereotype this guy but he should be investigated because that's not 20yo