Cameroon: the tops and flops of a rollercoaster football season

The Tops: historic moments

Victoria United's historic title win

On 18 April 2024, Victoria United, nicknamed "Opopo", wrote a glorious chapter in their history by winning their first Cameroonian league title. In the MTN Elite One play-offs at the Mbappe Leppe stadium in Douala, the club secured the coveted trophy with a 2-2 draw against Stade Renard de Melong, the runners-up.

Nathan Doualla, the hero of the day, converted a penalty in the 80th minute, handing the trophy to his team and to the city of Limbe. The triumph is the culmination of a meteoric rise, just two years after their promotion to MTN Elite One in 2022.

Two trophies for Colombe du Sud

Colombe sportive du Dja et Lobo enjoyed an exceptional season, winning two major trophies. The club first lifted the Cameroon Cup after a 1-0 win over Aigle de la Menoua, before going on to beat Victoria United in the 2024 Trophée des Champions.

Driven by players in top form and an adventurous tactical approach, Colombe made a real impression, notably through a superb goal from Zacharie Arthur Yene in the Trophée des Champions final. The performance confirms their status among the country's leading clubs and marks them out as one of the sides to fear in the 2024-2025 season.

A season without disruption

For one of the few times in years, the Cameroonian league ran without interruptions or fixture-related controversies. The Cameroonian Football Federation (Fécafoot) managed to stick to a tight schedule, allowing the competitions to finish on time. However, this smooth running was not enough to restore the confidence of clubs, players and supporters, given the persistent financial tensions.

The Flops: shadows over the season

The Nathan Doualla case and the identity scandal

In March 2024, Wilfried Nathan Douala, just back from the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Côte d'Ivoire, was suspended by the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fécafoot) for "double identity". The case made headlines around the world. At the time, while the Victoria United midfielder claimed to be 17, the federation suspected he was at least 23. Even though he was later cleared, the revelation led Fécafoot to remove 62 players from the league for similar reasons, shining a light on worrying fraudulent practices within Cameroonian football.

The Eto'o affair and match-fixing suspicions

Samuel Eto'o, president of Fécafoot, was accused of involvement in match-fixing to favour Victoria United, who later became champions of Cameroon. Although he avoided a suspension from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) because of insufficient evidence, the former player was fined 200,000 dollars for signing a contract with a sports betting company, a breach of ethics rules. The scandal shook local football and left the door open to all sorts of theories.

Image recovered from a public archive captured on 27/12/2024. The archived file is verified; the current source is unavailable. View archived capture

The row over MTN subsidies

Despite the financial backing of MTN, the official sponsor of the leagues, Cameroonian clubs complained throughout the season about delays in the payment of subsidies. Club presidents say they never received the full 48 million CFA francs promised to each of them. Last June, they called for an audit of Samuel Eto'o's running of Fécafoot, questioning the transparency and fairness of how the funds were distributed. The situation has heightened tensions between Fécafoot and the clubs.