Gabon faces expulsion from AFCON 2021?

Congo has rebelled and is seeking tough sanctions. They hope Gabon could be kicked out of the African Cup of Nations. That way, the Congolese would get a place at the tournament in Cameroon, even though they were only third in the qualifying group with Gambia, Gabon and Angola. The Gambia and Gabon were just a point ahead. But Gabon, they claim in Congo, violated the FIFA rules by involving a national team player with forged papers. The player in question is midfielder Guelor Kanga, who currently plays for Red Star Belgrade from Serbia.

The African and French media are writing about the big scandal today. Social networks were flooded with Kanga's alleged papers from his teenage days. It says: Kanga was not born in 1990 but in 1985. And his name is not Guelor Kanga but Kiaku-Kiaku Kianga. Congo was able to find those data since Guelor, or Kiaku Kiaku was born there, in Kinshasa. According to available data, he moved to Gabon only as a 17-year-old. Or, if we believe these papers now, as a 22-year-old.

It was certainly 2007, and in 2012, Kanga already borrowed the jersey of the Gabon national team. In Congo, however, they claim that less than five years have passed since he moved there, which is FIFA's condition to change his "football citizenship". He allegedly changed the papers so as not to take the place of a foreigner in his club. These allegations have yet to be proven. If that happens, then Gabon could indeed be severely punished. If only the 3-0 victory against Congo were erased, the trip to Cameroon would fail.

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Congo has reportedly filed a formal complaint with the African Football Confederation (CAF). The Football Association of Gabon has been accused of fraud.

"Regarding the information that came from Africa about the age of our football player Gelor Kanga, we want to point out that the Red Star trusts its football player. Kanga has a valid Gabonese passport. He played in Russia and the Czech Republic and had no problems whatsoever. We see this information as a war between the two alliances over the African Cup of Nations, in which Kanga is collateral damage. We hope that the situation will be resolved as soon as possible in favor of Gelor Kanga" FC Red Star said in a statement.