Fecafoot row: "The State has not backed down in the face of Samuel Eto'o"

It is a case of one side's word against the other's. In Cameroon, officials at the Ministry of Sports are adamant: "The Head of State gave the minister [of Sports] no instruction to accept any change to the make-up of the national team's technical staff, appointed on 2 April with his full approval". That version contradicts supporters of Samuel Eto’o, who swear that Paul Biya instructed minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi to accept the staff named by the Fecafoot president.

Also read: Cameroon: Samuel Eto'o absent from Marc Brys's contract signing

On 8 May, after a meeting of its Emergency Committee, Fecafoot resolved to reshuffle the technical team recruited by the State. The body led by Samuel Eto'o named Martin Ndtoungou and David Pagou as assistant coaches, replacing François Omam Biyik and Ashu Besong. Carlos Kameni takes over as goalkeeping coach from Alioum Boukar, while Benoît Angbwa is appointed national teams coordinator in place of Benjamin Banlock. The problem is that "this reshuffle will never be recognised by the government", says a source close to the Sports Minister.

"There is only one staff, he says, and it is the one appointed by the Presidency of the Republic. The State has not backed down in the face of Samuel Eto’o. It is the State that employs the Indomitable Lions' technical staff. The State cannot pay coaches it has not recruited." That warning had already been given to Samuel Eto’o at a meeting on 30 April, at the offices of Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

Eto'o vs Ngoh Ngoh: the standoff goes on

That day, the secretary general of the Prime Minister's office, Séraphin Magloire Fouda, had expressed his displeasure with the Fecafoot president and urged him to keep a low profile. Samuel Eto'o nonetheless stuck to his decision to appoint his own staff, defying the secretary general of the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh – with whom he has been on frosty terms for almost a year – who carried the Head of State's "high approval" for the recruitment of Marc Brys and his men.

So the standoff between the State and Fecafoot is far from reaching a conclusion. Meanwhile, the Cameroon national team face Cape Verde and Angola next June in 2026 World Cup qualifying.

The Editorial Team