Two years into his tenure as president of the Cameroonian Football Federation, Samuel Eto’o is facing allegations of corruption, cronyism and match-fixing. His administration is being investigated by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and the police.
By Pål Ødegård
Two Uefa Champions League wins, an Olympic gold medal, a Serie A title, three La Liga titles, a Fifa Club World Cup, and two Africa Cup of Nations, just to mention some of Samuel Eto’o Fils’ trophies. And that’s not including his two-digit number of coveted individual awards and records. No other Cameroonian has put the African country on the map in such a way since Roger Milla danced by the corner flag during the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
It was this popularity that propelled to the presidency of the Cameroonian FA (Fecafoot), despite running against four other candidates who had a longer track record in domestic football administration. “I had never met him, but I rooted for Samuel Eto’o. I was probably his biggest supporter,” Henry Njalla Quan II, the owner of Njalla Quan Sports Academy, a club in the third tier of the Cameroonian league system, tells Josimar. The election victory in December 2021 had been preceded by years of infighting, two annulled elections, and just as many interventions where Fifa installed a normalisation committee in order to keep the federation running. “There was a palpable optimism in the air when Samuel won. Personally, I had great hopes that finally we could be united, and make Cameroonian football great again,” Njalla Quan II adds.
The Campaigner
Eto’o’s campaign was not orthodox, as he catered more to the Cameroonian people than towards the dele...
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