Emmanuel Amuneke has revealed he had a hard time battling age cheats when he was in charge of the Golden Eaglets.
The former Super Eagles winger was accused by several players and their representatives of victimisation and even fraud when he headed the Eaglets.
However, he explained that players thrown out of the camp were either above the age limit or had age discrepancies on their passports.
“I know what I experienced when I was coaching in the U17s. I was public enemy number one; even the people in the North, a lot of them believe I am an enemy to them. But none have asked the players that did not make it, what really warranted their not making it,” he said on a radio interview.
“Most of these players had serious issues; some even have five passports. So, when you tell a player to go and do his passport, he doesn’t return because he has a lot of passports.
‘But people around them will not educate them because they’re only looking at the money aspect, they’re not being truthful to them.”
Amuneke, who is now in charge of Tanzania, led Nigeria to win a fifth FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile three years ago.