Cameroon Football Federation rejects Samuel Eto’o’s resignation as president
Samuel Eto’o tendered his resignation as president of the Cameroon Football Federation on Monday only to have it rejected by its executive committee.
Eto’o, who won the African Player of the Year a record four times, has been dogged by allegations of improper conduct, match-fixing, and corruption during his tenure as federation president.
The federation’s executive committee met in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, on Monday to evaluate the national team’s performance at the Africa Cup of Nations. Eto’o began the meeting with an offer to step down. Committee members say he invited others “to do likewise in good faith.”
“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 December 11, 2021,” the federation said in a statement, referring to the date Eto’o took over as president.
CAF was already investigating what it said were “serious” allegations from “several Cameroonian football stakeholders” against Eto’o. It noted that the former Barcelona and Inter Milan star was “presumed to be innocent until an appropriate judicial body concludes otherwise.”
Questions were 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.
Cameroonian soccer had plenty of problems in the past. Before Eto’o was elected president, the national league had been tainted by interference from the government, allegations of corruption, and broken promises from soccer leaders.
