The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has instructed the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to reconsider the candidacy of the President of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), Samuel Eto’o Fils for candidacy for next month’s Executive Committee elections, according to Algerian news site Fennec Football.
The former legendary captain of the Indomitable Lions, tuned FA boss filed an appeal before the Lausanne-based CAS after his candidacy was rejected by CAF ahead of the March 12 Executive Committee elections.
CAF Governance Committee on January 24, 2025 rejected Samuel Eto’o’s candidacy citing breach of ethics and code of conduct.
In one instance, Samuel Eto’o was found guilty and fined 200,000 dollars (about FCFA 121 million) for using his status as FECAFOOT President to sign personal deals with a betting company.
In another instance, the former Inter Milan forward is serving a six-month ban by FIFA for misconduct during a game pitting the U20 Indomitable Lionesses against their Brazilian counterparts in November 2024.
Eto’o was frustrated with the officiating and showed his discontent publicly which did not go down well with FIFA.
CAF also rejected the candidacy of former FECAFOOT president and current Fourth Vice President of the association, Seidou Mbombo Njoya citing lack of backing by national federation.
Eto’o’s candidacy for a position in the executive body of the continental football house comes with high stakes. It could ensure a balanced representation of all the major regional groups at the elections.
As of now, there is no representative of the Central African Football Federations’ Union (UNIFFAC) which includes among others Cameroon, Central African Republic , Chad and GABON.
Will CAF heed the call from CAS or will it stand its ground against the former Barcelona striker? That one million Dollar question will certainly be answered in the days ahead.
