It is an issue that has overshadowed African football for many years – but even so, the recent age testing furore surrounding regional qualifiers for this year’s Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations contained a hint of farce.

Ahead of a scheduled five-team tournament in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo were forced to pull out at the last minute after 25 of 40 players were judged to be overage following Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans.

Chad at least made it to Cameroon before being disqualified by in-tournament testing, while the hosts were forced to dismiss more than 30 potential players who failed pre-tournament tests ordered by Samuel Eto’o, the former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker who is now president of the country’s football federation (Fecafoot).

But speaking to BBC Sport Africa, a leading sports scientist, who has advised national football associations around the world, has questioned the one-size-fits-all application of the age-defining biomarkers provided by the tests, stating the saga must be a “watershed moment”.