The Gaurav Mukhi saga shows no signs of slowing down. After the handle Football Tweets spoke of Mukhi, the ‘youngest goalscorer in the history of the Indian League at just 16 years old’ as a player who was much more overage, football handles went berserk in replicating the story.

But this wasn’t the first instance of foreign media reporting on Mukhi. When the forward had originally scored against Bengaluru FC, quite a few media outlets outside India had picked up on the social media storm that had ensued and had carried the story.

Mukhi was eventually given a show-cause notice by the All India Football Federation and the AIFF’s Disciplinary Committee had laid down sanctions on the player, although not enforcing any on the club or the local Football Association.

(Read more:- Indian football’s Age Fraud problem is not young)

Quite a few foreign outlets had quoted Mukhi’s age ranging between 26 and 30, although it must be mentioned here that the forward’s age has been referenced in these stories without an actual source.

The Jamshedpur FC forward’s passport mentions a ‘2002’ date of birth, indicating that he is 16. The AIFF did sanction him twice for age fraud, which means that the only fact that can be stated for certain that he is not 16 years of age. Speculation about his age would be incorrect, as the AIFF has not issued any clarifications about his date of birth.

Mukhi, Jamshedpur FC, the Indian Super League and the All India Football Federation have made Indian football trend worldwide, maybe not for the best of reasons.