Despite the phenomenon of unpaid salaries to players and the ultimatum of the president of Fécafoot Samuel Eto'o, the clubs have set conditions for the resumption of the championship. The Federation is backtracking and has announced the postponement of the start of the second phase of the season, initially scheduled for Sunday, May 8, 2022.
Will Samuel Eto'o's optimism and promises calm the presidents of Cameroon's professional football clubs? After a remarkable start to the season marked by the return of the public to the stadiums, a threat is already hanging over the rest of the championship. Indeed, the clubs, gathered under the Association of Elite Clubs of Cameroon (ACEC) and announced their intention not to participate in the rest of the professional championships if a certain number of conditions are not met.
The club leaders are demanding, first of all, the payment of the balance of the Football Federation's (Fécafoot) endowment. They are also demanding the entire government subsidy which amounted to nearly 560 million CFA francs (over 857 thousand euros) in previous seasons. It is also learnt that the club presidents would like to have details on their share in the benefits of the partnership between the Federation and the official sponsor of professional championships, the mobile phone company MTN Cameroon.
Furthermore, ACEC is against the working methods of the National Union of Cameroonian Footballers (Synafoc). The Union accuses clubs of not paying players. The clubs accuse the Union of interfering in their internal management and threaten to bring the matter before the competent courts. "We don't know on what basis Synafoc conducted its investigation. We protest against the methods of Synafoc," said ACEC Secretary General Norbert Nya. "The problem, he says, is the approach. Synafoc and Fécafoot are our partners and we are required to work in a climate of trust. However, it so happens that Synafoc is the union of players who are members of his organization. The union does not therefore automatically represent all footballers in Cameroon.
Clubs threaten, Fécafoot backs down
On 3 May 2022, the club presidents, armed with all these demands, appealed to the Transitional Council of Professional Football (CTFP). In their letter, they demanded the "postponement of the scheduling" of the return leg of the championship. For them, the failure to satisfy their demands and especially the salary claims of the players and other charges, would certainly lead to widespread forfeitures.
But faced with the demands of the clubs, Fécafoot initially remained unmoved. Following a first ultimatum issued at the end of April, Samuel Eto'o again appealed to the clubs on 5 May. In his statement, the former Barça and Inter Milan striker invited the club presidents to make available to the Administrative and Financial Department of Fécafoot, "the documents justifying the payment of the players' salaries" in order to receive the balance of the subsidy they are claiming.
At the same time, the Council in charge of the organization of professional championships has made public the programming of the first day of the return phase initially scheduled for Sunday, May 8, 2022. Except that, to everyone's surprise, a second communiqué from the same Committee was made public the day before, Saturday May 7, announcing "that at the request of the Association of Elite Clubs of Cameroon (ACEC), the matches of the return phase of the championships are postponed and will instead begin on Thursday May 12, 2022. A postponement for a few days that would not change anything to the situation. The clubs are determined to have their claims fully settled before a return to the stadiums. A strategic meeting between Fécafoot, the CTFP and the clubs is announced for early this week.
