AIFF formalises bone-age determination procedure for next four seasons

The decision was taken at a sports-medical committee meeting on July 31 after a four-year youth league calendar was finalised in consultation with the clubs and academies across the country.

The committee decided that the bone age determination tests (as per AIFF-BADP guidelines) will be conducted only once in a player’s career.

In a major decision to curb age-fraud in the sub-junior and junior tournaments, the All India Football Federation’s sports-medical committee fixed a Bone Age Determination Programme (BADP) for its youth leagues in the next four seasons.

The decision was taken at a sports-medical committee meeting on July 31 after a four-year youth league calendar was finalised in consultation with the clubs and academies across the country. Taking into consideration the sporting and medical aspects, the committee decided the participation eligibility cut-off for the upcoming four football seasons.

 

The committee decided that the bone age determination tests (as per AIFF-BADP guidelines) will be conducted only once in a player’s career. In order to equate the eligibility for participation in the forthcoming leagues, the committee decided to calculate the time period (years, months, days) passed between the date of the test and 1st of September of each year and add that resultant figure to the bone age rating received under the guidelines.

It was decided that from January 2020, the AIFF BADP test window will be kept open throughout the year for teams to get their players tested at any point of time. The detailed guidelines will be shared with the clubs and academies.

The calculation procedure for bone age determination If for the 2018-19 season, a player was tested on February 1, 2019, and got a bone age rating of 12.1 years, the rating for 2019-20 will be calculated as follows: Difference between date of Test and date of eligibility for 2019-20 season. Eg: September 1, 2019 – February 1, 2019 = 212 days. This value in days is then converted to years: 212 / 365 = 0.58 years. This value (0.58) is then added to the bone age rating of 12.1 from the 2018-19 season. Hence, the bone age rating for 2019-20 will be 12.1 + 0.58 = 12.68.