AFCON 2025 - Cameroon: Marc Brys received the bonus

On the eve of the start of the AFCON 2025, Marc Brys' dismissal had been presented as a fait accompli. However, in fact, the Belgian technician has never ceased to be, legally, the coach of Cameroon. Recruited in April 2024 by the Ministry of Sports, and not by Fécafoot, Marc Brys signed a contract for a duration of 2 and a half years with the Cameroonian State. An official from the Ministry of Sports, interviewed by Sport News Africa, is formal: "the State has never officially ended Mr. Brys' contract." Result: despite his sporting elimination at the end of 2025, the contractual relationship with Yaoundé remained intact.

20 million CFA francs bonus for AFCON
This legal continuity has had very concrete effects. According to a source with direct knowledge of the financial file, Marc Brys received his bonus related to the AFCON 2025, estimated at just over 20 million CFA francs. A sum that corresponds to the share accruing to the coach after the Indomitable Lions qualification for the quarter-finals and the victories recorded in the competition.  As a coach under contract with the state, he was eligible for these bonuses,” confirms the same source. Information that has been circulating for several days in the administrative corridors, despite the absence of official communication.

«Whether we appreciate it or not, the administration cannot unilaterally suspend a contract without legal basis.»

The case of the monthly salary that would include his assistant and video analyst is no less revealing. The figures differ according to the sources: 44,000 euros per month (about 29 million CFA francs) for some, up to 60,000 euros (nearly 39.5 million CFA francs) for others. In any case, the principle remains identical: the payments of continue. "Whether we like it or not, the administration cannot unilaterally suspend a contract without legal basis," explains an official from the Ministry of Sports, on condition of anonymity. This reading is also supported by the repeated statements of the person concerned himself: 'I am still the coach of Cameroon. I have not received any official letter notifying me of my dismissal.”

Brys employee, Pagou without a contract
In the mirror, the situation of the staff led by David Pagou appears as the other side of the medal. Hastily appointed by the president of Fécafoot on the eve of the AFCON to replace Marc Brys on the bench, the Cameroonian coach has still not received a salary to date. At issue: the absence of a contract signed with the State. "The Ministry of Sports has never signed a contract with this staff," says an administrative source. A situation that is not new: when David Pagou and Ndtoungou Mpilé had joined the staff of Marc Brys after a consensus meeting at the presidency of the Republic, at the end of September 2024, their status had already remained unclear, due to a lack of formal acts.

In the Ministry of Sports, the line is clear. "As things currently stand, it is up to the Fécafoot to propose and pay a salary to all the technical staff present at the AFCON 2025, since it is they who imposed this staff," says a manager. A reading that the federation categorically rejects. "The technical staff led by David Pagou coaches the Cameroon national team, not that of Fécafoot," retorts a federal leader, returning the ball to the state. Behind this exchange lies a conflict of competences and legitimacy, each one playing on their own reading of the texts and the balance of power.

Persistent flaws
In the end, the AFCON 2025 will have highlighted a situation that is paradoxical to say the least: a coach removed from the bench but still paid and rewarded, and a staff working on the field but without contractual guarantee or salary. More than a financial anecdote, the Marc Brys case reveals the persistent flaws in the governance of Cameroonian football, where sports, administrative and political decisions collide without ever aligning. And as long as this blur persists, the same causes will produce the same effects.