In a rare and exclusive interview with RFI, Samuel Eto’o, President of the Cameroonian Football Federation, strikes a conciliatory tone after a period of tension with the nation’s Minister of Sports. While seemingly extending an olive branch, the former global football star remains ambitious, hinting at a potential second term at the helm of Fecafoot and setting his sights on a seat within the CAF Executive Committee. As the Africa Cup of Nations approaches, Eto’o discusses Cameroon’s readiness to host, the challenges of the pandemic, security concerns in the region, and his hopes for the Indomitable Lions, all while subtly highlighting his enduring influence in African football. This interview marks his first time in public to speak since his conflict with the minister, choosing RFI as the platform.
Christophe Boisbouvier (RFI): Thank you for having RFI. It’s been three years since you became president of Fecafoot, the Cameroonian Football Federation. But since last April, you have lost administrative and financial control of the Indomitable Lions national team to the Cameroonian Minister of Sports. Isn’t this a big blow? Don’t you feel like giving up?
Samuel Eto’o: It’s always a pleasure to have you, Christophe. There have been challenges. I prefer to call them that. And we haven’t lost anything because the Federation’s job is administrative. People seem to forget it when they want to, but it’s good to put things in context. The Federation is recognized and is linked to CAF and FIFA. All transmissions that can and must be made go automatically and only through the Federation. So administratively, we are not suffering from anything. And there is another aspect, the financial one, which personally does not pose a problem for me. But it turns out that in 2014, the Head of State, in his sporting and football vision, signed a decree, a decree that made the Federation face its responsibilities. That’s the financial side. So these public funds, which are controlled by the State services, are under the responsibility of the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. It turns out that, since April, as you say, this decree has not been respected.
But I tell you again that I am calm. Why? Because you are never safe from a bad accusation or a false accusation that could do a lot of damage. Now, so that the responsibility of the president of the Federation that I am is no longer engaged, it was enough just to do things well. This means contacting me administratively and saying that the Head of State’s decree of 2014 would no longer be respected. And from then on, me, when the State services come to the Cameroonian Football Federation so that we can work on the supporting documents and on the budget lines that have been made available to the Cameroonian Football Federation, that means that I can brandish a document that covers my responsibility. But it turns out that this document does not exist and I hope that when the time comes, when we have to answer all these questions, we will not try to manipulate public opinion by trying to engage the responsibility of the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. All the problems you have had, I say, it’s a shame, because we are working normally for the same objective.
Only, our objective is to go a little further, to allow ourselves to dream, to say that we must build the victories of tomorrow and that is what we are doing. And you are better placed than me to know that the victories of tomorrow are built today and they are built 1 – in serenity, 2 – by respecting the rules, 3 – by following a project. And we are only following the project that we proposed to the voters who placed their trust in us. Because in a few months, in less than a year soon, we will put ourselves in front of these voters to take stock of what we have promised. So how are we going to justify saying that we may not have achieved all the performances or results that we want to have? Others will not understand that there have been interferences, that there have been people who have entered for reasons that I do not wish to mention here. Because once again, these reasons can put our beautiful country, Cameroon, in a situation that we do not want to see.
Christophe Boisbouvier (RFI): So in a year, you will be a candidate for your succession?
Samuel Eto’o: Listen, we still have several months ahead of us. We will see. It was a really difficult year, but we held on. Let’s keep moving forward. I will see with the partners, those who have placed their trust in me, those who accompany me all day long. Is it worth it for us to continue or not? And depending on that, we will make a statement at the appropriate time. But as I tell you, the most important thing for us is to do things differently, to show that we can build the victories of tomorrow.
Christophe Boisbouvier (RFI): So you’re talking about bad accusations. We saw it in a video last May, where you let your anger explode, you are in open conflict with the coach of the Indomitable Lions, the Belgian Marc Brys. And in an interview with the newspaper Dernière Heure, in Brussels, he kind of pinned you down anyway. He recognizes that you are popular, that you are very powerful, but he says that you have only succeeded as a footballer and that you have failed in all other areas, that is to say as a coach, as an entrepreneur and as president of the Federation.
Samuel Eto’o: Christophe, if I’m going to answer an employee, you’ll see that I’ll lose the level that is mine. So, I will stay at my level as president. But just a little aside. I don’t think all these people who are talking, if they weren’t employed by the Cameroonian Football Federation or by the State of Cameroon, you would be talking about these people. But I think that when you mention the name Samuel Eto’o, people recognize themselves in Samuel Eto’o and even project themselves to become Samuel Eto’o. It means that, somewhere, I have succeeded in something. And to come back to what binds us, I think that some of this gentleman’s positions could have been reviewed. Because, if you work for Cameroon, we have the same objective, that of victories. But it turns out that the president that I am today has been in this team for more than 24 years and that I know better than anyone the real problems of this team. For some, the only thing that interests them is the flagship team. But for us, it’s all the selections and that’s what people don’t want to understand. When you say “I was pinned down”, I say that people give themselves visibility through me. Because, if you don’t talk about Samuel Eto’o, we don’t even know where you came from. And then you can trace. In football, we know each other. Before the arrival of these people in our beautiful team, I did not know them and I have no personal problem with all these people. And my philosophy is to take what is good in each of us to get together, to achieve the common goals that we can set ourselves.
And what we must put above all this are the common objectives that we have. I have no problem with anyone. I have a mission that has been entrusted to me and I must fulfill it. Period. From there, I have to make sure that the administrative side, which is impeccable and beyond reproach at the Cameroonian Football Federation, goes very well. And I take this opportunity to congratulate my colleagues and, very often, we get into debates because people don’t understand, because they have never worked at a certain level. They don’t even know how it works and we are sent into debates that have no place. I’ll just give you an example, Christophe. You know that when you have to summon a player who has played for another footballing nation, there is a whole administrative process to follow. People get up one morning, they summon players who have played for other nations and who give themselves the latitude to say that the Federation is working against us. It doesn’t happen like that. These are things that must be anticipated. But I understand that these people have not worked at this level and that these people cannot understand. But you have to learn. There is nothing wrong with learning and we are all here to stick together and move forward and do everything so that the flagship national team of Cameroon regains the place it had. There are people who have worked for this.
So I often say that sometimes people engage in controversies that have no place, a blockage that has no place. You just have to ask the right questions and we will answer, we will provide elements. But when you look, everything has been done according to the rules of the art at the Cameroonian Football Federation. Administratively, moreover, there is no longer a problem today. Even if we have learned that now payments are made in cash, which we banned at one point because it created suspicion and because there needs to be better traceability. We had to insist and I hope that we insist because, otherwise, we will go back 20 years, to the time when we paid people in cash and we didn’t really know where the money was going.
Christophe Boisbouvier (RFI): The results are rather good at the moment for the flagship team, for the Indomitable Lions. She qualified for the next CAN in Morocco. There has been no defeat since June, since Marc Brys has been the coach of this team. He’s not so bad, finally, this Belgian coach, is he?
Samuel Eto’o: Listen, no one said he was bad, but there are rules and these rules must be respected. There is a decree which is there, which gives powers to the Cameroonian Football Federation. But much further, there are the statutes of FIFA, CAF and the Cameroonian Football Federation which give the executive committee and its president the power to choose their coach on the basis of the project that we presented to the delegates. That was the debate. I do not enter into the judgment whether it is good or not. I never said he wasn’t good, because I didn’t know him. So I can’t judge someone I don’t know. But on the basis of the project that we presented to the delegates, it was good that we went to the end of our logic.
We wanted to nationalize the bench, because we told ourselves that we didn’t need to go and seek our expertise elsewhere and we experienced a lot of problems with foreign coaches who came and who always dragged the Cameroonian Federation and the State of Cameroon before the courts, where in the end the State found itself paying impossible sums. We told ourselves that we were going to give Cameroonians the opportunity to do the job well and I think that beyond the comments we can have and the atmosphere which has been difficult, the coach Rigobert Song, in particular conditions, has fulfilled its mission. He qualified Cameroon in extremis in Blida. He qualified Cameroon for the CAN. We had a difficult CAN. He continued. He started the playoffs that coach Marc Brys continued. There was already a result that was there. And it was in difficult conditions because it was a Cameroonian who was at the head of the flagship selection. That’s the truth. It’s because he’s Cameroonian. We felt that we couldn’t do certain things, so we had to take someone else. I am not opposed to that. I’m just saying that we have to respect the law because it’s the law that allows us to live together. It is the law that allows us to respect each other and to face up to our responsibilities.
Today, Cameroon is winning. But also imagine if Cameroon did not win. Who should be responsible for the situation? And I think that’s the question we need to ask ourselves. And President Biya, who has been a visionary, has signed decrees by putting people in front of their responsibilities. Why? Because at the end of the day, we would have to say: “Mr. President of the Cameroonian Football Federation, you have not done your job”, and that I should be sanctioned by these delegates who give me a mandate to represent Cameroonian football. When you enter a situation that few people really understand because we try to manipulate each other, in the end, who is responsible? That’s it. Because the laws, the decree of the Head of State, all these things have not been respected. But no one ever said that this gentleman was good or not. At least on my side, as president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. Because before his arrival in Cameroon, I had never heard of this gentleman. And God knows I know the world of football anyway. And I know several great coaches who have won and who we know. He arrived there, we will do everything so that he achieves the objectives that we have in common.
These victories are ours. His defeats are also ours. Because we must not forget something. Federations in Africa, they live thanks to the victories of the flagship teams. Because when you are qualified for a CAN or for the final phase of the World Cup, you have a “price money” which allows you to build a stadium, which allows you to build a headquarters. We cannot therefore work against our own objectives! Often, when people say “”Oh, but the Federation is working against us”… But no! How can the Federation work against you? Because those who benefit from the victories of the Federation, the first are those who directly represent the Cameroonian Football Federation. So we do everything to make everything work well in particular conditions.
Christophe Boisbouvier (RFI): Since April, you have therefore been opposed to the Cameroonian Minister of Sports, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi. But this one is supported by the very powerful secretary general of the presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh. Isn’t this opponent too strong for you?
Samuel Eto’o: Christophe, I am opposed to no one. I defended legality. That’s the only thing I defend. Legality. I do not recognize myself as having adversaries. The Minister of Sports is an elder. And I had the opportunity to tell him so. I defend the law because it is the law that allows Cameroon to live together. And we all know that President Biya has carried this living together. He puts it above all else because, as soon as we can no longer respect the constitution, as soon as we can no longer respect the decree signed by the Head of State, there is a problem. But you are aware that the young man that I am, I cannot be the one who does not respect the will of the Head of State. The Head of State is the only one to make policy. We others, through football, have a duty to support, at our small level, the vision of the Head of State and that is the only thing we do. So, if my elder, the Minister of Sports, takes a position that we, at the Federation, believe is not legal, of course we let the Minister know our point of view. And I also think that in turn, if he considers that the Federation is not in legality… But it turns out that we always are, because, despite this attempt, in the end, we have always been right about all these things. Why? Because we have to learn to respect what is right. We must learn to respect the writings, the law, because people do not realize that by leaving there, there is no longer a State and then there is no longer any respect.
Christophe Boisbouvier (RFI): You are talking about politics and one of the causes of your troubles, you know it well, Samuel Eto’o, is that a certain number of Cameroonians say that you have political ambitions and that you are aiming for a destiny like George Weah in Liberia. The next presidential election in Cameroon is next October. Are you thinking about it?
Samuel Eto’o: But listen, Christophe, I think you receive a lot of politicians and you still know that I cannot run for election. Where am I going to take the deputies? I don’t have a party. And then I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, that those who wish to embark on this election are known. And then they clearly know my position, the one I have always displayed, that of supporting President Biya. And I’m not changing my position. But the same concern that some, as you say, have had, they have also had it at the CAF level, they have also had it at the FIFA level. So finally, everywhere, I find myself in trouble because people lend me intentions. But I have never spoken out on all these things.
Christophe Boisbouvier (RFI): You are a Cameroonian citizen, Samuel Eto’o. Nothing prevents you from one day being a candidate for a presidential election…
Samuel Eto’o: You know, generally, I do what makes me happy and I don’t espouse the ideas of others. And I don’t want to be the wall where others hide by feeding their project. And I’m not someone who doesn’t say what he thinks. I always say what I think and I assume what I say and I said it a few months ago, I say it again clearly: My support is there, it has never changed and, as you know, each of us gets behind his champion for reasons of his own. And for me, that won’t change. I do not have this pretension nor this desire to embark on a political race. I wanted to become president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. I went to seek this mandate of rupture and I am in the process of carrying out the project that I presented to the delegates who placed their trust in me, who placed their trust in us.