The Golden Eaglets are currently camped in Abuja ahead of their U-17 African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Niger on Sunday, August 7.

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Mandatory use of Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was introduced by FIFA in 2009 for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup to help ascertain whether players are over age or not.

The report says that most of the current starting XI players are among the 26 that failed the MRI scan.

"It is a disaster. Virtually the first team the coaches have been working on have been disqualified. It’s a serious problem,” the report quotes a source.

The players who failed the MRI scan have reportedly left Golden Eaglets Abuja camp.

Age cheat issues have been a constant problem to Nigeria's youth teams.

In 1989 Nigeria's youth national teams were banned by FIFA for fielding over-age players in FIFA-organised youth tournaments.

The birth dates of three players at the 1988 Olympics were different than the ones used by those players at previous tournaments.

The resulting ban lasted for two years and Nigeria was also stripped of its right to host the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.

All efforts by to confirm the story have not been successful as mails to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have not been responded to.