Bakery Jatta has been through a lot since the Sport Bild article that questioned his identity. It was a heinous campaign to discredit an illustrious citizen from the Gambia.

It led to protests from teams playing against Hamburg whenever Jatta was on the lineup. Prominent among them are Karlsruhe, Bochum and Nuremberg. They launched an appeal to nullify the matches he played.

They questioned his legality as a player because of doubts about his status were not cleared by authorities.

Finally, the office responsible for investigating the authenticity of Jatta’s documents has issued a press statement today:

“The available documents do not provide any reliable evidence that would justify measures under aliens law. The doubts that arose about the accuracy of the information were not confirmed during the hearing“.

The conclusion is a boon to the consistent story of Jatta all along that he is not a fake!

Jatta’s fight to clear his name is not over yet. Nuremberg’s appeal against Jatta will be heard on the ninth of September in Frankfurt. They have a key witness who is ready to testify against him.

On the pitch, Jatta is impervious to the rumours against him. He was booed numerous times by opposing teams.

He scored a wonderful goal during the weekend for Hamburg against Hannover(3-0 )in the second division Bundesliga. And was greeted to a round of applause from his teeming fans from Hamburg.

Jatta is here to stay as a law-abiding, tax-paying immigrant doing what he loves the most-football.

Update:

The case against Jatta’s eligibility to play for Hamburg has been settled. Nuremberg has withdrawn its appeal against Jatta following the official statement from the district office in Hamburg confirming what we all knew from the start: Jatta is not an age cheat.

Another good news for Jatta is the prospects of playing for Germany’s U-21 team if the plans of Stefan Kuntz comes to fruition. His naturalization could be accelerated to play for Germany.