Guinea: Syli National kit diverted to benefit FEGUIFOOT president's club?
Feguifoot: kit diverted by AS Kaloum? A new scandal is rocking Guinean football, involving a possible diversion of equipment.
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It all began on 27 January 2025, when AS Kaloum unveiled their new shirt for the 2024-2025 season. At the ceremony, held at the Stade de la Mission, head of communications and marketing Nfamara Bangoura proudly announced an unprecedented partnership with the brand Puma.
"From now on, AS Kaloum will play in Puma. It's a trial year. The company is giving us the shirts at a 60% discount. Puma works with the big national teams all over the world. For the first time, a Guinean club has signed a contract with Puma", he said, as quoted by the website www.africasport.org.
But the facts appear to be more complicated. According to documents seen by Sport News Africa, AS Kaloum allegedly benefited in reality from two kit orders placed in February 2025 by the Guinean Football Federation with Puma, from whom it receives a 60% discount on its purchases; the same discount AS Kaloum supposedly announced in early January.
Image recovered from a public archive captured on 31/03/2025. The archived file is verified; the current source is unavailable. View archived capture
More than 66% of the two orders earmarked for AS Kaloum!
Ball bags and backpacks, match balls, training shirts (with or without sleeves), shorts, parade trousers, polo shirts, tracksuits, socks: the lot, including in different colours.
In total, and thanks to the 60% discounts it has enjoyed since the agreement struck between Puma and the Normalisation Committee at the time, FEGUIFOOT spent 23,532 euros on two orders for 1774 items.
The kit left Vienna, Austria, on 13 February and passed through the company EHS Africa Logistics Guinea before arriving in Conakry on 22 February on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. However, a few days later, several items identical to those in the orders turned up being worn by AS Kaloum players and staff, as shown by photos published on the club's official Facebook page.
White or yellow training shirts, black trousers, green or grey polo shirts, shorts, socks: according to our information, more than two thirds of the orders are in fact being used by ASK and not the national teams.
A club with no money but top-of-the-range kit
Puma, one of the world's sporting giants, is well known for its partnerships with national federations and the Confederation of African Football. However, our research found that only one official sponsorship deal between the brand and an African club has been signed: with Mamelodi Sundowns. There is no trace of any agreement with AS Kaloum, who are not even in the top 20 clubs on the continent.
A surprising detail, especially given that this same club is struggling to pay some of its players. The case of Ibrahima Sory Sankhon is a glaring example: in February 2025, a month after the Puma partnership was announced, he said he intended to leave AS Kaloum over unpaid wages; his five months' salary (15,000 euros) and his signing-on bonus (5,000 euros) had still not been paid.
How, in these circumstances, could a financially struggling club have managed to agree a deal with such a prestigious brand, when even the Guinean federation had failed to sign an official sponsorship contract with Puma, notably because of the Sily National's lack of results?
General assembly postponed because of the financial statements
When contacted, ASK's general secretary did not respond and simply redirected our requests to the head of communications. The latter, like the FGF general secretary (Ibrahima 'Blasco' Barry), did not answer our questions.
President Bouba Sampil, who is also the owner of AS Kaloum, has likewise stayed silent; his contested management is already the subject of several complaints and reports to the Ethics Committee.
Read also: Guinea: revolt against Bouba Sampil on the Feguifoot executive committee
Fearing the ordinary General Assembly that was due to be held on 4 April, he pushed for a postponement. Rescheduled for 8 May, it may allow its president and his men to publish the federation's true financial statements and, at last, answer questions about how FEGUIFOOT's money has really been used.