Joseph Minala

Joseph Marie Minala is a Cameroonian footballer who is contracted to S.S. Lazio. In February 2014, he made European headlines after Lazio threatened to take legal action against those who reported that he was older than the age his Italian documents indicated.

Minala left Cameroon to pursue a professional football career, he emigrated to Italy on his own as a 15 year old in 2011, he was expecting to meet somebody at Roma Termini railway station who could help him sign a professional football contract but nobody met him once he had arrived.

He played for Atletic Club Citta 'dei Ragazzi and ASD Città di Fiumicino before moving on to Vigor Perconti, a local amateur team with whom he won the regional competition Trofeo delle Regioni in March 2013.


 * Age concern

In January 2014, a photograph was published of him in S.S. Lazio training clothes and the photograph was published on social media where people questioned if the player was actually seventeen years of age. In February 2014, a Senegalese journalist Lamine Samb copied and pasted a fake interview with the player from a Wordpress blog desinfosdufoot.wordpress.com on Senego.net. It contained quotes "I am not 17 years old. I had to sign a contract quickly to send as much money to my family who have remained in Cameroon" and "I will celebrate my 42nd birthday next August".

Lazio released a club statement saying that they reserve the right to take legal action against those who say the player is older than he is. Various international media bodies such as BBC Sport and ESPN reported the story.