AFCON 2025: Cameroon bets on new comers

A few hours before they deep feet into the competition at the African Cup of Nations in Morocco, Cameroon approaches the tournament in an assertive climate of uncertainty. The dismissal of Marc Brys by the president of Fécafoot and the express nomination of David Pagou have precipitated a sports restructuring that raises questions. More than the selection of the coach, it is the human resource that worries: a team largely composed of players lacking in rhythm, international experience and sometimes even status in their respective clubs. In the absence of stated ambition, the Indomitable Lions seem doomed to aim for the essential: avoid sinking in the face of Gabon, Ivory Coast and Mozambique.

These players lacking playing time in the den
The case of Mahamadou Nagida illustrates this risk-taking. At 20 years old, the Stade Rennais defender barely discovers the very high level. In Ligue 1, he has played only five matches in sixteen matchdays, spending eight of his last ten games on the bench, including a recent four in a row. His limited playing time contrasts with the requirements of an AFCON, a competition where intensity and rhythm are not learned on the job. To project it as a credible solution in a national defense under reconstruction is less a sports choice than a lack of alternatives.

Same observation for Samuel Kotto, defender of La Gantoise. At 22 years old, the Cameroonian alternates between bench and stands. He hasn’t played a single minute in the last four outings of his club and has only five starts in the league, while the Jupiler Pro League is already on its 19th day. His profile, still in the process of becoming, arrives in selection without certainty, nor continuity, in a sector where approximation pays cash.

Martin Atemengue, also a defensive midfielder, is preparing to experience his first ACON in less than reassuring conditions. The SK Rapid player in Austria stayed almost three weeks without playing, with only 69 minutes played during his club’s last ten games. At 22 years old, he lands in a continental tournament without pace, without recent benchmarks, and with the implicit mission of holding on to much more hardened attacks, especially those from Côte d'Ivoire.


In the midfield, the situation is even more worrying with Jean Onana. In six months, Genoa played 26 matches in all competitions combined. The Cameroonian was used only three times. Injuries, bench, stand: his daily life in the club contrasts violently with the central role that awaits him in the national team, where he is called upon to make up for the absence of an executive like Zambo Anguissa or even Martin Hongla. Valued at 1.7 million euros, Onana arrives at the AFCON without game time, without accumulated confidence in his club, but with a disproportionate responsibility compared to his current dynamic.

On the offensive front, Georges-Kévin Nkoudou offers hardly any more guarantees. Arrived in Al Diriyah in August, the Cameroonian striker has only played four league games this season. Even more worrying, he has not been retained in the group during the last five outings of his Saudi club. As we approach hostilities where the slightest opportunity can tip a match, Cameroon is betting on a player without rhythm and almost invisible in the club for several weeks.

Towards a transitional AFCON
Junior Dina Ebimbe completes this fragile table. Although he is posting 11 Ligue 1 matches with Brest this season, his use remains marginal. In the last six games of his club, he has only accumulated 35 minutes of play over four appearances, with two matches spent entirely on the bench. A succession of matches that neither allows to find a rhythm, nor to impose itself as a driving force, let alone to carry a national team in a tense context.

In the end, Cameroon’s hopes rest on a generation by default, chosen more by constraint than by conviction. Against Gabon on 24 December, Côte d'Ivoire on 28 and then Mozambique on 31, the Indomitable Lions advance with a squad of which a significant part discovers both the AFCON and the pressure of the very high level without the support of a recent experience in club. In this context, the unofficial objective seems to be less the conquest of the trophy than the limitation of damage. A forced transition, where the land will have to compensate for what stability and continuity have not allowed to be built upstream. But isn’t it always allowed to dream?