Less than two months after his election as head of Fecafoot, Samuel Eto'o is criticized. Delay in the launch of the national championship, government attacks, failed CAN and family worries in Spain… The former Indomitable Lion can only count on his popularity.
Elected on December 11 at the head of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), after "a campaign worthy of a presidential election", in the words of The Continent magazine, Samuel Eto'o is not at the end of his penalties.
In Cameroon, Eto'o has today acted as a lightning rod for the government which, after months of scandals and delays in the preparation of the last African Cup of Nations (CAN 2021), has decided to charge the new president of Fecafoot all the ills suffered by the competition.
A showdown between Eto'o and the government
With a scandal linked to Covid-19 detection tests during the month of the CAN. Cameroon announced only four cases of Covid-19 during the tournament and were accused of "cheating by manipulating the tests". Charges that Eto'o described as "unhealthy". He had even defended the Cameroonian government in his statements, assuring that the latter would never engage in such a practice.
But the government's ingratitude is striking: the Secretary General of the Ministry of Communication, Félix Zogo, faced with the many scandals that have marred the CAN, assures us that "everything Eto'o has touched has ended in failure ".
“He was captain of the national team, we know what happened to it: 2010 in South Africa, 2014 in Brazil. He brought us two playboys here in the person of Seedorf and Kluivert. We know what happened to it…”, launched Zogo.
Read: Just elected president of Fecafoot, what awaits Samuel Eto'o?
A salvo of attacks that owe nothing to chance, when Eto'o tries to install, as the new coach of the Indomitable Lions, the former defender Rigobert Song. Eto'o sees opposing against him Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, the Minister of Sports. The latter plans to extend the Portuguese António Conceição to this position.
The president of Fecafoot recalls that the choice of the coach "is within his competence". Eto'o was thus seeking to put Kombi in his place. On February 23, the executive committee of Fecafoot, which supports Eto'o, will deliberate on Song's possible appointment to the post. A snub for the government, if the ex-Indomitable Lion were to dislodge Conceição.
Even the general gets involved
If Eto'o is holding up in the face of repeated attacks by state representatives, he must now face popular uproar after the delay in the launch of the national football championship. The first match of the season was scheduled for February 21, 2022. With new terms: the championship will be played with two groups of 13 and 12 clubs. Eto'o had convinced club presidents to adopt this new way of working.
But it is ultimately General Pierre Semengue, president of the Cameroon Professional Football League (LFPC), a body created to measure for the military in 2010, who is in charge of organizing the championships. The general opposed Eto'o's idea of reform.
Only here, the body had been dissolved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2020. As a consolation prize, Eto'o had appointed Pierre Semengue as president of the Transitional Council for Professional Football. The general was seeking Eto'o to reinstate the LFPC. Without success.
Thus, the Cameroonian championship will be a few days late. The new date of the first matches has not yet been specified, but the internal conflict between the two men will necessarily shift the course of the competition, which Eto'o had promised to improve.
A bad thing never comes alone
While Eto'o has to juggle all these problems, it is on a personal level that the president of Fecafoot is affected. The Spanish sports media Marca revealed on February 17 thatEto'o had been recognized as the father of a 22-year-old girl by the courts. He would have been sentenced to pay a monthly pension of 1 euros to the young woman, Erika Do Rosario Nieves, whose mother he had known when he was still playing at Deportivo Leganés in Madrid.
A scandal that dates back to 1999. Eto'o had refused to recognize Erika Do Rosario Nieves. 22 years later, DNA tests would have proven the relationship.
One month before the play-off match for the World Cup between Cameroon and Algeria, the Algerian press also took the opportunity to put pressure on Eto'o. The change of stadium decided by Fecafoot, which insisted that the meeting of March 25 take place on the lawn of Japoma in Cameroon, although less good than in other forums, aroused the anger of Fennecs supporters, who keep a bitter memory of the conditions of the CAN.
The Algerian sports newspaper Compétition deplores the situation: “We have all seen how Eto'o pushed hard to pass the choice of Japoma. Despite FIFA's reluctance, he achieved his goal as he had achieved at the end of December when he made Infantino and CAF bend to validate their CAN and the dates initially planned.