FIFA And CAF Presidents Had Advised Samuel Eto’o, To Start As Vice President Of FECAFOOT

Crisis In FECAFOOT:

FIFA And CAF Presidents Had Advised Samuel Eto’o, To Start As Vice President Of FECAFOOT

There is mafia, or private deals, at all levels of football management in the world

What many people do not know, is that the personal relationship between the President of the World governing football body, FIFA, Gianni Infantino, the President of the Confederation of African Football, CAF, Dr Patrice Motsepe, with the President of FECAFOOT, Samuel Eto’o Fils, is in reality not that good. Their problem came from the 2021 FECAFOOT Elections between Seido Mbombo Njoya and Samuel Eto’o Fils.
Talking about Seidou Mbombo Mjoya, it is worthy of note that he worked at CAF before. Seidou served as the Director of Protocol at CAF for a number of years, when Issa Hayatou was President of the Confederation. So he knows how CAF functions, including some to the mafia games that FIFA and CAF do together. So when Seido Mbombo Njoya became President of FECAFOOT in late 2018, he was fast to establish a friendly relationship with the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino. Seido did same when the South African billionaire, Dr Patrice Motsepe, was elected President of CAF.
4th Vice President Of CAF
That was how at the CAF General Assembly that held in Morocco, and at which the President of FIFA strangely enough played a major role, the post of 4th Vice President of CAF was recreated, under the pretext that one of the Vice Presidents of CAF ought to be from the Central African Region. That was however logical. Seidou Mbombo Njoya was sort of coopted to the post of 4th Vice President of CAF in the name of an election.
The strong friendship that had developed between Seido and Motsepe, was seen for example when the CAF President visited Cameroon for the draws of AFCON, in 2021. He arrived Cameroon in the morning of the day of the draws, and he and Seidou Mbombo Njoya zoomed off to Foumba for Motsepe to visit his father, Sultan Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, before they returned to Yaounde later in the day for the occasion .
Presidents Of FIFA And CAF Wanted Seidou To Stay On
Meanwhile when Samuel Eto’o announced his plan to run for the post of President of FECAFOOT, the Presidents of FIFA and CAF jointly tried to reconcile Eto’o and Seido, had turned from friends to foes. The fact of the matter was that the two men wanted Seidou to stay on as President of FECAFOOT, at least for the next term, so as to be one in office as FECAFOOT President when Cameroon hosted AFCON.
That was to be Motsepe’s first AFCON as President of CAF, and he had since coming to office as President of the Confederation been working on the preparations with Seidou Mbombo Njoya as President of the football federation of the host country. There was also that friendship that had developed between Motsepe and Seidou.
The Presidents of CAF and FIFA also wanted to avoid the embarrassment of a Vice President of CAF being beaten in an election in his own country.
Secret Meeting In D R Congo
Meanwhile the Secretary General of CAF, Veron Mossengo – Omba, who hails from DR Congo though he has dual nationality and is thus also a European citizen, on behalf of the Presidents of FIFA and CAF organized a secret reconciliation meeting between Samuel Eto’o Fils, and Seidou Mbombo Njoya, on the sideline of a World Cup qualifying match in Kinshasha, DR Congo.
At the meeting, the CAF Secretary General presented the joint proposal of Infantino and Motsepe, which was that Eto’o should drop his announced – plan to run for the post of President of FECAFOOT, and join Seidou’s list and be the 1st Vice President. It was further stated in the proposal that after the FECAFOOT election in December 2021, Seidou Mbombo Njoya would be President of the Federation for just one term, and then support Eto’o’s candidature for President of FECAFOOT in the next election.
The Issue Of Lack Of Experience With Eto’o
Besides the fact Infantino and Motsepe wanted their friend, Seidou Mbombo Njoya, to be President of FECAFOOT for the next mandate, they also sincerely thought that it would be good for Samuel Eto’o , whom they considered their friend, to have some experience in football management before becoming President of FECAFOOT. This is because to play football, and to manage football, are two different things. So the proposal to Eto’o that he should first served as a Vice President of FECAFOOT before becoming President of FECAFOOT, was done in good faith.
Before becoming President of FECAFOOT, Iya Mohamed for example for example was President of Coton Sport Garoua for a longtime. Before becoming President of FECAFOOT, Tonbi A Aroko first served as 4th Vice President of FECAFOOT. As for Seidou Mbombo Njoya, he as aforementioned worked a CAF. Seidou was also at one moment President of Federal Noun. Seidou Mbombo Njoya was also the Vice President of the Cameroon Professional Football League.
Former football star, Bell Joseph Antoine, who ran for the post of FECAFOOT President in 2018, was President of a Second Division Club for a number of years .Bell has also served as a coach. Maboang Kessack Emmanuel, another former player of the Cameroon national football team that also ran for the post of FECAFOOT President, owns a football club in the league, that he has been running for a number of years. Samuel Eto’o created a sports academy in Douala.. But he never managed it himself, because he was then still playing professional football out of the country.
Before becoming President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino himself worked at Uefa for 16 years. As for the President of CAF, Dr Patrice Motspe, before becoming President of the Confederation he had for a long time being the President of one he strongest football clubs in Africa. He in fact owns the club.
Eto’o Rejected Proposal Of Motsepe And Infantino
Meanwhile Samuel Eto’o rejected the proposal of FIFA and CAF Presidents that he should allow Seidou Mbombo Njoya to be President of FECAFOOT for a mandate of four years, and that he should start as Vice President of FECAFOOT and become President of the Federation, four years later. Eto’o, insisted on his plan to be a candidate for the post of President of FECAFOOT. It should be noted that the joint proposal of Motsepe and Infantino was a private affair. They did not do it in their different capacities as Presidents of CAF and FIFA.
Not Interference As Such

Some people will definitely accuse Infantino and Motsepe of attempted interfere in the election of the President of the football federation in Cameroon. But it was not interference as such. Rather it was a sort of attempts by two friends to reconcile two of their friends who had become enemies, and try to see if they could settle on a deal. Such a proposal would CERTIANLY NOT have come up if the Presidents of FIFA and CAF did not have some type of ‘private relationship’ with both Eto’o and Seidou.
There Is Mafia At All Levels
There is mafia or deals at all levels of football management in the world. Many Cameroonians for example remembers well what happened before the 2018 Presidential Election. CAF had decided that the 2019 AFCON would not hold in Cameroon because objective inspection works had shown that some major infrastructures that had to be used like the Olembe Stadium, were not yet ready. When the then CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad , came to Cameroon to inform President Biya, his friend, Samuel Eto’o, who accompanied him to meet Biya, persuaded the CAF President not to announce the bad news to the public then, for fear that the opposition would use it against Bya in the presidential election campaigns.
Ahmad Ahmad accepted, lied to the public after the meeting with President Biya that the 2019 would hold in Cameroon , only to say a different thing after the October 7, 2018 Presidential Elections in Cameroon. Ahmad Ahmad got involved in that scandal because of his relationship with Samuel Eto’o. That was how he too could also make a proposal to Eto’o, based on their relationship. Those things happen.

The Favour FIFA President Did To Eto’o
As elaborately handled in another article, the President of FIFA appointed Eto’o man, Dieudonne Happi, as President of the Normalisation Committee of FECAFOOT. That also later made it possible for Eto’o to bring in his then friend, Seido Mbombo Njoya, as President of FECAFOOT in late 2018. Infantino knew that Seidou Mbombo Njoya was Eto’o’s candidate in the 2018 FECAFOOT Elections. Infantino, and Motsepe who also had been elected President of CAF, later knew that the two friends, Eto’o and Seidou, had fallen out. And since the two were also their friends, they tried to reconcile the two, and proposed a deal which however did not work as Eto’o rejected it. That was it.
There is no doubt that Motsepe and Infantino were disappointed with Samuel Eto’o ‘s rejection of their proposal. Infantino and Motsepe were the more disappointed that upon returning to Cameroon, Eto’o leaked the information to some of his men, and they started running their months ,blasting them, while singing the praises of Eto’o for the decision he took to reject the proposal.

All Actions And Decisions, Have Consequences
But as the Barack Obama Administration in the United States used to say, all actions and decisions have consequences. The fact is that after having become President of FECAFOOT, Samuel Eto’o cannot benefit from some behind the scene benefits, advantages, protection or favouritism, from the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, or the President of CAF, Dr Patrice Motsepe. They can all smile in public as diplomats do, but their relationship now is limited to the official level.
Keen observers would have noticed for example that during the AFCON that Cameroon hosted early last year, the CAF President, Patrice Motsepe, did not really work closely with the President of the football federation of the host country, Samuel Eto’o. Instead he operated more with the 4th Vice President of CAF, Seidou Mbombo Njoya. Also, whenever he had to mention the namesof Seidou while talking to the media, Motsepe always said, “My brother Seidou”. But when it came to Samuel Eto’o, the CAF President just simply said of Eto’o, and even rarely referred to him as the President of FECAFOOT.

Hard Position By FIFA
Also, the hard position that FIFA took as regard the amount of money that Coach Antonio Conceicao demanded from FECAFOOT for the wrongful termination of his contract, made me to wonder whether the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, was not behind the scene trying to hit hard on Eto’o. FIFA in its decision on the matter insisted that FECAFOOT must pay the exact amount that Conceicao demanded, whereas in most of such cases FIFA would insist on the reduction of the amounts that the coaches demand for wrongful termination of their contracts.
The amount of money that FECAFOOT will have to pay to Conceicao for wrongful termination of his contract, is more than double the total amount that was paid to both Hugo Bros and Clarence Seedorf for the charges of wrongful terminations of contracts.