Joseph Minala interview: 'If you search my name on Google, it's still the first thing that comes up'
“Sometimes people recognise me in the street and say, ‘Is it really you? The person everyone thought was 42?’ Maybe a lot of people see me differently because of what happened. I never did anything wrong.”
These days, a major news story might linger on our feeds for a few hours before disappearing into thin air, never to be discussed again. As the saying goes, today's biggest headlines are tomorrow's forgotten stories.
More than 12 years have passed since Joseph Minala became embroiled in one of football's most unjust controversies and, to this day, the former Lazio midfielder is still living with its consequences.
In early 2014, Minala was being tracked by some of Europe's biggest clubs, with Manchester United, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain expressing their interest to the late Mino Raiola, his agent at the time. The future looked bright.
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"I was the best young player in Italy," he tells SPORTbible with the conviction of someone who has never doubted himself, even when others did. "Everyone was speaking about me."
But just as Joseph's career was about to take off, an African football website claimed that his passport had been altered to reduce his age by 25 years, which would have made him 42. The story was plastered across social media for weeks.
Minala denied the allegation. Lazio threatened legal action against those who questioned the legitimacy of his age, and soon, an official Italian Football Association investigation confirmed he was 17, as his official documents stated.
But the damage was already done.
“Even today, if you search my name on Google, it's still the first thing that comes up,” he says. "I've done many interviews and achieved many things as I've grown older, but people always prefer to focus on that story.”
From his home in Malta, Minala speaks candidly about a journey that has tested him in ways he could never have imagined.
He discusses the lasting impact of the age controversy, the deeply personal struggles that almost forced him to walk away from football when he was just 21 years old, and his ambitions for the future after turning 30 in August.
More than anything, though, he is desperate to change people's misconceptions about him, both on and off the pitch.
At the age of 15, after an intermediary promised him a trial with AC Milan, Joseph Minala boarded an 11-hour flight from Cameroon to Rome.
His mother had taken out a substantial loan to finance the trip, so when the person who had arranged the trial failed to show up at Termini railway station, their agreed meeting point, Joseph soon realised he had been scammed.
Without money, food or a working phone, he was stranded at the station.
Joseph told local police that he wanted to return home to Cameroon, but because he was an unaccompanied minor, he was taken to hospital for checks and subsequently placed in a residential care home in the Torre Spaccata area of Rome.
It was here, with the support and encouragement of staff, that he first began playing amateur football in the local area. The talented midfielder soon caught the eye and, following trials with several Serie A clubs, including Napoli, he joined Lazio's youth ranks.
With the influential Mino Raiola by his side, after the agent spotted him playing on the sun-scorched pitches of rural Torre Spaccata, Joseph had every reason to believe that a long and successful career at the highest level was possible.
“Yes, it was something I felt could happen,” he says, when asked if he saw himself becoming a first-team regular at Lazio.
Despite interest from some of Europe's top clubs, it was decided that staying in Italy was the best decision for his development. Lazio had presented him with a long-term project and, having only recently settled into life in a new country, he was reluctant to move elsewhere.
“I thought, ‘Why do I need to leave now? Maybe it's better to stay here, focus on my football, keep working and keep improving,'" he says. "Maybe one day, the opportunity to join Paris Saint-Germain would come around again. That was the plan."
Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan.
"We didn't take it seriously enough... we just thought it would go away.”
Everything changed for Minala in February 2014, when African football website Senego.net alleged that he was pretending to be a teenager in order to play for Lazio’s youth team.
According to the report, he had altered his passport by 25 years, which would have made him 42. It was also claimed that Joseph lied about his age so he could send money home to his family in Cameroon.
Joseph remembers being informed of the claims by his agent.
“He told me, ‘Look, they've written something about you.’ I was surprised because I was already in Europe," Minala says. "I was going to school in Italy, just like everyone else. I was playing football, competing in championships and attending trials.
“Nobody had ever questioned my age before. Nobody had ever written anything like that about me. I was already training with the first team, and then this false story came out.”
The accusations led to an official investigation, which saw him questioned by the league’s federal prosecutor. Eventually, after three agonising months, the Italian Football Federation confirmed what he had known all along.
“There are no doubts about his age," a statement read. "He is 17.”
More than a decade on, Joseph believes the rumours may have been deliberately spread by people who were unhappy with his decision to join Lazio instead of Napoli, where he spent two months on trial.
"In the end I had to prove myself," he remembers. "I underwent tests that I shouldn't have had to take, just to prove that I was a normal boy who had grown up normally. It was simply the malice and envy of certain people at that time.”
Looking back, he admits that failing to address the claims publicly was a mistake.
“We thought that after a week, everyone would forget about it," says Minala.
“You have to remember, I was playing for Lazio. I wasn't playing for a small club in the fourth or fifth division. Lazio is a big club in the capital of Italy. All my documents were in order, so everyone was surprised by the story.
"We didn't take it seriously enough," he admits. "I think that was our mistake. We just thought it would just go away.”
It didn't.
Instead, the allegations have cast a permanent shadow over Minala's career. In fact, he believes they ultimately prevented him from fulfilling the potential he had shown as a teenager at Lazio, when Europe's elite were swirling.
Even Raiola's influence could not overcome the stigma attached to his name.
“Yes, of course," he says, when asked whether he believed clubs were reluctant to sign him because of the publicity.
“People were speaking about my age, even though it wasn't true. At the time, I had a big agent, Mino Raiola, who represented many players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba. These are big agents who have connections with many clubs. They have doors open for them everywhere.
“Do you really think they couldn't find opportunities for me? Do you know how many times I was close to agreeing a deal, only for someone to call and say the club had seen the news about me and didn't want to be involved?"
There is frustration in Minala's words, and it's easy to understand why. The situation was out of his control.
He worked under respected coaches, including Simone Inzaghi, but never managed to establish himself in Lazio's first team, even after scoring a brace in the Coppa Italia Primavera final against Fiorentina, just weeks after the age controversy.
“If you ask the players or coaches who worked with me what I was like as a player, I don't think anyone could say I didn't deserve five, 10 or 15 minutes on the pitch,” he says.
“But the real reason I wasn't given those opportunities? Nobody knows. I was the first person to ask questions. ‘What happened? What did I do wrong? What didn't I do to deserve five or 10 minutes?’
“And whenever I went out on loan, I was always playing. Throughout my career, whenever I had the opportunity, I've played.”
Joseph Minala was close to quitting football at the age of 21
In total, Joseph spent seven years on Lazio's books between 2014 and 2021, although loan spells accounted for much of that period. He featured for several Italian clubs, including Bari, Latina and Salernitana, as well as Chinese Super League side Qingdao Huanghai.
Throughout that period, the age allegations continued to cast a shadow over his career. Yet his biggest challenge came in 2017, when a 21-year-old Minala was on the verge of walking away from football for good.
While on loan at Salernitana, Joseph’s father passed away. It was a moment that left him questioning many things.
“I'll tell you something that many people don't know,” Minala says. “When I lost my father in 2017, I wanted to stop playing football. I wanted to quit completely.
“I was playing for Salernitana at the time, and I did everything I could to make the club want to get rid of me. I did everything you can imagine. I just wanted them to tell me I'd done something wrong and terminate my contract.”
Joseph was struggling to cope with the loss of a man who had been such an important figure in his life.
“Mentally, it was a very difficult time for me," he added. "My father was everything to me. Everything. I couldn't go onto the training pitch without hearing his voice.”
At his lowest point, however, Minala found a reason to carry on. His thoughts turned to his mother and the enormous responsibility he felt towards his family back home in Cameroon.
“One day, I looked at my mother and thought about everything she had been through,” he recalls. “I told myself, ‘Maybe God has another plan for me.’ I have my brothers and my family, and I need to keep going.
“That was what kept me going. As I said, I didn't have time to think about everything else because I had so many responsibilities.”
Minala also credits Salernitana's former general manager Angelo Fabiani, who is currently the sporting director at Lazio, for recognising that he was going through a difficult period.
"He (Fabiani) didn't want to terminate my contract because he understood what I was going through at that moment," says Minala, clearly grateful for the support he showed.
For Minala, football has always represented something much bigger than personal success. Growing up in a large family, he understood from an early age that his ability on the pitch could provide opportunities for the people closest to him.
After his father's death, that sense of responsibility only deepened.
“At the time, I had to start thinking about football because it's a gift God gave me,” he explains. “It has allowed me to help people and take care of my family. I have 10 brothers, not one, two or three. I have 10. So my family is big.
“I lost my father, and all that responsibility was on my shoulders. I was taking care of my family from a young age through football. I never really had the time to sit down with someone who could say, ‘Joe, maybe it's better to handle things this way.’
“I didn't have those kinds of people close to me. There were people who had their own interests. They just wanted to take what they could from me.”
It is another telling insight into the pressures Joseph was facing as a young footballer, particularly at a time when his name was attracting attention for reasons that had little to do with his performances on the pitch.
Today, he continues to support his family through football, playing for Maltese Premier League side Marsaxlokk FC, a club based in a small fishing village on the southern coast of Malta.
Joseph hopes his presence can help improve Maltese football for years to come.
“In my own small way, I'm trying to help people see Maltese football differently," he says. "Maybe a big-name player or a talented young footballer will look at me and say, ‘Joseph plays in Malta, so it can't be a bad place to go. Let's see what it's like.’
“I just hope, with God's help, that I can stay healthy, continue to help my family and take things day by day."
There will always be questions about how far Minala could have gone had it not been for the controversy. He made just a handful of appearances for Lazio’s first-team before going to play in Malta with Sliema Wanderers, Gżira United and his current side, Marsaxlokk.
Despite everything that has happened, Joseph doesn't want to spend the rest of his life wondering what might have been.
“I've also made mistakes in my life, but you can't go back and change the past,” he says. “I'm not the kind of person who sits there thinking, ‘What if? What if?’ I just thank God for everything I've been through and the fact that I'm still alive today.
"I still have opportunities, especially now, because it's not easy to find a team, play football and get a contract. I'm still in a position where I can help my family. I sleep well, I'm healthy, and I try to support my family as much as I can. That's what's important to me.”
It is a perspective shaped by a career that has not unfolded quite as he, or many others in the game, imagined when he first burst onto the scene. For Minala, though, there are more important things in life.
“After everything I've been through, I look at things differently,” he concludes. “I try to learn from every experience, whether it's good or bad. I take the lessons and keep moving forward. That's the kind of person I am.
“I don't spend time worrying about the past because I know I can't change it. Life isn't a movie where you can go back and do everything again.”
Jack Kenmare
