BVB is said to have had knowledge of alleged fraud

Is he 20 years old or four years older? There is yet again a stir about Youssoufa Moukoko’s age.Picture: keystone

The age of the youngest Bundesliga player in history is repeatedly questioned. Now Youssoufa Moukoko’s alleged father admits fraud – and also denies Borussia Dortmund.

16.12.2024, 10:4716.12.2024, 14:46

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There is nothing new in the discussions about the age of Youssoufa Moukoko. However, the latest developments in the case of the German international are particularly explosive. As the ProSieben documentary reveals, Moukoko’s alleged father is said to have cheated on the striker’s age.

“We made it four years younger.”

Joseph Moukoko

Joseph Moukoko dies to the makers of the program “Tricking, cheating, deceiving – the million dollar business with football talents”. Accordingly, he is not the biological father of Youssoufa Moukoko, but simply issued a forged certificate and pretended to be the father.

“I found him a false birth certificate in Yaoundé. I went to the embassy there, I got him a passport and then I brought him to Germany as my son,” says Joseph Moukoko, who says: “We made him four years younger.” The current Nice professional was born on July 19, 2000 and not November 20, 2004, as his official documents say.

Joseph Moukoko appears not to be Youssoufa’s father.Picture: www.imago-images.de

The 73-year-old Cameroonian claimed this not only to the filmmakers, but also in an affidavit. The «Image» quoted by him: “Aware of the criminal liability of false affidavit, I declare (…) under oath: Youssoufa Moukoko is not the biological son of me and my wife Marie Moukoko. He was also not born on November 20, 2004 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.” The statement is in contrast to an earlier affidavit by Joseph Moukoko. As early as November 2022, he declared to the court: “I am the biological son of my wife Marie Moukoko Youssoufa Moukoko was born on November 20, 2004 in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Based on the new statements, the entire case could be reopened. If Moukoko is in fact four years older, not only would his record as the youngest Bundesliga player in history have to be cancelled, but titles and awards could also be at stake. Moukoko won the U17 championship with Borussia Dortmund in 2018 at the age of 14, and even scored a goal in the 3-2 final win against Bayern Munich. In addition, he is no longer allowed to play as a national Under-21 player.

Historic debut: One day after his 16th birthday, Youssoufa Moukoko played in the Bundesliga for the first time.Picture: www.imago-images.de

Joseph Moukoko’s comments also put pressure on Borussia Dortmund. So the club would know about the wrong age. The club was also aware that he was not the biological father. “They knew that,” explained Joseph Moukoko, “Lars Ricken knew about it.” Moukoko even informed sports director Sebastian Kehl personally.

The current managing director of BVB Ricken has worked as a youth coordinator for a long time and, since November 2020, as the head of the youth department. The signing of Youssoufa Moukoko in 2016 comes under his term of office. Kehl only returned to the club he played for for 13 years two years later.

“We didn’t work, we got the money from Borussia Dortmund that way.”

Joseph Moukoko

Joseph Moukoko also talks in the documentary about fake contracts that the Bundesliga club concluded with the couple. He was employed as a video analyst and scout at Borussia Dortmund, while his wife Marie was employed by an advertising agency that worked for BVB’s jersey sponsor Evonik at the time. “We didn’t work, we got the money like that,” says Joseph Moukoko. From Dortmund alone it is said that it was first 10,000 and then 20,000 euros per month. BVB concluded these contracts because Youssoufa Moukoko was officially only eleven years old and therefore not legally competent when he moved from St. Pauli to Dortmund in July 2016.

Borussia Dortmund refers to the claim against the «Image» as “completely inaccurate”. BVB already denied the statements of Moukoko’s father on Friday. «Please note that both the player and the biological parents identified in the aforementioned documents have confirmed to us and, in the case of the parents, even to third parties, through affidavits in the course of legal proceedings, that the information posted on found in the official documents mentioned above are correct,” he says in the public notice. This is “important” for BVB, the German Football Association and the loan club Nice.

Moukoko has also appeared twice on the German national team.Picture: www.imago-images.de

The club refers, among other things, to the German birth certificate issued by Joseph Moukoko to Youssoufa at the Hamburg district office in February 2016. In assessing the case, the authorities had to rely on the documents that existed from the capital city of Yaoundé Cameroon. The district office will now also carry out a new assessment.

If Moukoko’s age were corrected from 20 to 24, BVB would be seriously damaged, even if the club did not know about the fraud. The striker’s current market value is 18 million euros, which is likely to drop significantly if he is four years older. It is unlikely that Nice will use the purchase option of 17 million euros in the summer. In this case, Dortmund would have to pay the rumored salary of 8.5 million euros for another year – Moukoko’s contract does not expire until the summer of 2026.

Moukoko himself has yet to comment on the new allegations. The documentary shown on ProSieben on Sunday evening also showed that it is not an isolated case. Apparently, it is common practice in many African countries to manipulate the age of young players to increase their value and make money accordingly. At the start of 2023, 21 players were removed from the Cameroon under-17 national team squad because they failed an age test.

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