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While awaiting the results of the investigation against him by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) into alleged match-fixing in the Cameroonian championship, the president of Fécafoot is once again playing for his future at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
In Cameroon, soccer is synonymous with the courts.And with time, Samuel Eto’o has learned to live with it. With his ambition to “restore Cameroonian soccer to its former greatness” by putting the athlete back at the heart of the game and at the heart of all issues, the road to achieving this goal is increasingly strewn with obstacles for the President of the Cameroon Football Federation (Fécafoot). While polemics and scandals involving him and others have become commonplace, the threat to his mandate is just as real and frequent. Indeed, the days (or weeks) ahead are likely to be particularly decisive for the four-time African Footballer of the Year.
“Denial of justice
According to certain indiscretions, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is on the verge of releasing the results of its investigation into the former Barcelona star, who is suspected of match-fixing in his country’s league. And while a wave of fear is blowing through the Fécafoot, Samuel Eto’o’s opponents have once again appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) “due to a denial of justice”, according to Delphine Deschenaux-Rochat, advisor to the Lausanne-based body, in a letter sent to the Fécafoot on March 20.
Towards Eto’o’s suspension?
The fifty or so plaintiffs, made up of clubs, managers, the Cameroon Professional Football League (Lfpc), journalist Guibaï Gatama and a suspended member of the Fécafoot Executive Committee, intend to request that Samuel Eto’o be suspended from his duties and from all football-related activities. Thirteen members of the Fécafoot Executive Committee are also included in the statement of appeal filed with CAS on March 15. “The plaintiffs accuse Samuel Eto’o not only of having violated several articles of the Fécafoot Code of Ethics relating to integrity and abuse of office for private purposes or to gain pecuniary advantage, but also of the provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics relating to sports betting and gambling activities”, whispers a source with knowledge of the case.
Further on, we learn that his opponents wish to ask CAS to “order Eto’o to reimburse Fécafoot, from his own funds, all expenses incurred as a result of the improper termination of contracts between Fécafoot and Antonio Conceiçao, on the one hand, and Fécafoot and Le Coq Sportif, on the other”. In the first case, Fécafoot was ordered to pay a fine of 1.6 million euros (over 1 billion FCFA) to the Portuguese coach, while the fine could be higher in the second case.
