Fahmy says cheating is a big problem

The decision was taken by Caf in Johannesburg on Monday night.

It comes after Kenya's U17 team was found to have fielded players who were over 20 years old for a African Championship qualifying game.

The scandal rocked Kenyan football, as the players involved insisted Kenyan Football Federation officials were aware of their real ages and played an active role in falsifying documents.

The secretary of the KFF, Hussein Swaleh, has also been banned from all Caf activities for a period of three years.

Swaziland 2003 draw Group A - Swaziland, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Guinea Group B - Nigeria, Cameroon, Gambia, Ethiopia Dates - 25 May to 6 June

Caf said he played an active role in an act that had brought African football into disrepute.

Age-cheating is a long-term problem in Africa.

Caf's general-secretary Mustapha Fahmy told BBC Sport that it is difficult to combat.

Speaking at the draw for the 2003 U17 African Championship in Swaziland he said: "When national associations present teams for tournaments and their passports state that they are of a certain age, how are we to know they are false?

"Unless we have incontrovertible evidence we are not in any position to take strong sanctions."

The action against Kenya did not have the unanimous agreement of Caf's executive committee.

One member, who did not want to be identified, said the move could be counter-productive.

"There is no doubt that Kenya deserves to be severely sanctioned for cheating," he said.

"But we should have imposed measures that could have had a hard-hitting effect without sacrificing the opportunities to innocent players in Kenya.

"They will bear the brunt of the measures that we are taking.