Most people know Joseph Minala as the Lazio wonderkid who was allegedly 42 years old. Let us share his remarkably strange story with you if you haven’t heard of him.
When the 17-year-old Cameroonian football player joined Lazio in 2013, it made headlines. But he was suspected of being 42 right away. For someone born in 1996, Minala undoubtedly had a very mature appearance. But as a result, he was falsely accused of lying about his age.
Many people will remember his name for all the wrong reasons. In 2014, the Lazio midfielder was officially exonerated of any misconduct, allowing him to pursue his career. After a few outings, he was sadly unable to establish himself in the Lazio first squad. Here, we examine his career trajectory since he was suspected of being forty-two.
The professional career of Joseph Minala
Lazio
From 2014 to 2021
Bari
2014–2015–2016
Latina
2015–2016
Salernitana
2017–2018–2019
Huanghai Qingdao
2020
Fortunately,
2021–2022
Olbia
2022–2023
Liepaja
2023
Wanderers of Sliema
2023–2024
United Gzira
2024–present
As of 02/06/2025, accurate
Minala was charged with being forty-two.
He was soon exonerated of all charges.
According to the BBC, an African football website claimed that the midfielder was twenty-five years older than he actually was (42 years old). In fact, this prompted the Italian Football Association to launch an official investigation. But in April 2014, he was exonerated of all charges, allowing Minala to carry on playing football. With the legal dispute behind him, Minala turned his attention to realizing his extraordinary talent, making his Serie A debut at the age of 17. He was supposed to do big things.
“We denounce this attempt by hostile figures to throw a sinister light on this club,” Lazio stated at the time. We maintain the right to take legal action against anyone in charge of safeguarding the team and its athletes.
A reporter following the Lazio youth team at the time, however, called the allegations “unbelievable.” In support of the player, Max Evangelista stated:
He is a player who reacts quickly. He is 41, but you could never say that. I think it’s really difficult to be 41 when everyone around you is sprinting like devils. He is quick when running. Lazio felt compelled to dispute the news since it is so preposterous.
“He had to deal with the conditions here alone after spending a few years at an orphanage in Cameroon. Because the player’s visage does not resemble that of a 17-year-old boy, the narrative is contentious.
“His former life, which was not a pleasant one, is evident on his face. That’s it. For a period. Nothing else leads you to believe that he is forty-one. He is a child with a child’s head. All he wants to do is play football the way he did years ago, barefoot on the road. He is concentrating solely on that, and he is talented because of it.
The Strange Career of Joseph Minala
He didn’t receive any consistent playing time.
However, his career hasn’t gone as planned, even though he had three appearances for Lazio at the close of the 2013–14 season.
Before spending three straight seasons at Salernitana, he was loaned to a number of Serie B teams, including Bari and Latina. Minala returned to Lazio after the team decided against offering him a permanent contract, even though he had played 67 games for them in Serie B.
He received a loan offer from Qingdao Huanghai, a Chinese Super League team, for the 2020 campaign. The midfielder played 15 games in the league, but his luck didn’t significantly improve as the squad placed seventh out of eight. Minala returned to Lazio after his loan in China ended in January 2021, and his contract expired at the conclusion of the 2020–21 season.
He played 20 games and scored three goals during his one-year contract with Lucchese in Serie C (Group B). But at the age of 26, his future was uncertain after he left the team last summer.
However, in an effort to revive his faltering career, he did locate a new team. In August, he signed a one-year contract with Olbia, staying in the same tier. Regretfully for Minala, he was freed in January by mutual consent.
Minala is currently performing in Malta.
Not what we all believed to be a professional progression…
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