Samuel Eto’o submitted his resignation as president of the Cameroon Football Federation on Monday, but the executive committee rejected it.
Eto’o, a four-time African Player of the Year recipient, has faced persistent allegations of improper conduct, match-fixing, and corruption.
The federation stated that its executive committee convened in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on Monday to assess the national team’s performance in the Africa Cup of Nations.
During the meeting, Eto’o initially offered to resign, urging other members to consider doing the same 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 Dec. 11, 2021,” the federation said in a statement, referring to the date Eto’o took over as president.
The federation made no mention in the statement of any other decisions taken or conclusions drawn.
Cameroon coach Rigobert Song’s future was uncertain after a disappointing Africa Cup campaign.
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Cameroon, the five-time champion, needed a win in its final group game to be sure of progressing to the group stage, scored late to achieve it, and was then eliminated by Nigeria after a lackluster performance in the round of 16.
Eto’o, who celebrated with the team after its dramatic win over Gambia in their final group game, has been dogged by corruption allegations in the last year.
Last week, The Athletic 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.”
It said a file had been sent to FIFA’s ethics committee and that it is also being investigated by the Confederation of African Football.
CAF was already investigating “serious” allegations against Eto’o, acknowledging his presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.
Concerns arose in Cameroon regarding Eto’o’s ambassadorial role with a sports betting company, prompting at least one club to complain to the federation about potential code violations.
Cameroonian soccer faced issues before Eto’o’s presidency, including government interference, corruption allegations,
and unfulfilled promises from soccer leaders. Despite these challenges, Eto’o, who played in four World Cups for Cameroon between 1998 and 2014, was elected president.
