Zurich  - Football's controlling body FIFA said Monday that they would use x-ray films to determine the age of players at the under-17 world championship in Nigeria later this year.

FIFA said that players would be selected at random and that an x- ray of the players' wrists would determine their age. They said that such an x-ray posed no health risk.

Only players born after December 31, 1991 are eligible to play at the tournament.

Previous youth tournaments have seen allegations of age-cheating with particularly African teams being accused of using over-aged players.  dpa