Taribo West ’12 years older’ than we thought

Partizan chief: Taribo West ’12 years older’ than we thought - Former Nigeria defender Taribo West, who played for Internazionale and Derby County among other clubs, has been accused of lying about his age.

West, who retired in 2008, is listed as 39 years old today in his Wikipedia profile, but former Partizan Belgrade president Zarko Zecevic, says he has already passed the age of 50.

The defender joined the club in 2002, leaving two years later.

But despite the enormous gap between West’s stated age and his alleged actual age, Zecevic says he is still glad that he signed the player.

“He joined us saying he was 28. We only later found out he was 40, but he was still playing well so I don’t regret having him on the team,”' Zecevic said.

West, Croatian media reports claim, also then tried to join Rijeka some years later, saying he was 32, but was in fact 44 at the time.

He did not sign for them, but had a brief spell at Plymouth and finished his career in Iran at Paykan FC, by which time, if Zecevic is correct, West would have been 46.

West was part of Nigeria’s Olympic gold-medal winning football team of 1996. Several members of that squad, including Nwankwo Kanu and Jay-Jay Okocha, have been accused of being many years older than officially stated.

World of Sport