A request by Samuel Eto’o to resign from his position as Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) president was rejected by the Executive Committee members.
The Committee held a session on Monday, February 5 at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel to evaluate the performance of the senior men’s national team at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) competitions in Ivory Coast.
In a statement, Facefoot said Eto’o tendered his resignation to the federal executive organ at the beginning of the meeting and asked the members to accept it in good faith.
However, they dismissed his request and instead said they were confident with his plan to improve Cameroon with his plan adopted by the assembly in 2021.
“At the end of discussions and subsequent deliberations, the members of the executive committee decided to maintain their current mandates and thus unanimously rejected the president’s resignation thereby renewing their confidence in him to continue with the same spirit of reconstruction and development of Cameroon football at all levels as envisaged in his plan adopted by the elective general assembly of Dec 11, 2021,” read the statement in part.
Etoo’s resignation came after the Indomitable Lions were eliminated at the round of 16 in the AFCON following a 2-0 defeat to Nigeria.
Samuel Eto’o Accusations
His reign as FA president has been met with several controversies since he took over in 2021.
For instance, his alleged bad blood with Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana which has been deemed to have negatively impacted the keeper’s relationship with the national team.
This feud saw Cameroon send Onana home from the 2022 World Cup squad and previously retiring from international duties.
The Athletic recently reported that it had seen WhatsApp messages, emails, letters and audio recordings that allegedly support a wide-range of accusations, including “match-fixing, abuse of power, physical threats, inciting violence and spreading false information in Cameroon.”
CAF was already investigating what it said were “serious” allegations from “several Cameroonian football stakeholders” against Eto’o.
Also Read: Meet Cameroon Star Aboubakar, the Man Who Broke Samuel Eto’o Record
Besides, it noted that the former Barcelona and Inter Milan star was “presumed to be innocent until an appropriate judicial body concludes otherwise.”
Concerns were also raised in Cameroon about Eto’o’s ambassadorial role with a sports betting company.
At least one club complained to the Cameroonian federation about the deal, which could violate the institution’s codes.
Samuel Eto’o was also involved in a violent altercation with a supporter in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup.
Cameroon are currently 46th in the world rankings, the seventh highest ranked African team.
Also Read: Where Are They Now? 10 Last AFCON Golden Boot Winners
Football Records
Samuel Eto’o is Cameroon’s all-time leading scorer with 56 goals in 118 appearances for his country.
He is also the all-time leading scorer in the history of AFCON with 18 goals and a winner of two trophies with Cameroon’s ‘Indomitable Lions’.
Eto’o won the African Player of the Year a record four times in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010.
He won the Champions League, Italian Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and Italian Super Cup with Inter Milan, making him the first African player to win the treble.
At Barcelona, he won two Champions league trophies, three La Liga titles, one Spanish Cup and two Spanish Super Cup.
He also won the Spanish Cup with Mallorca in 2003 and the Intercontinental Cup with Real Madrid in 1998.
