Cameroon Rejects Eto’o’s Resignation Amid Corruption Allegations

Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) has rejected Samuel Eto’o’s resignation as President amid allegations of improper conduct and corruption.

Eto’o tendered his resignation on Monday, few days after the Cameroonian national soccer team’s disappointing exit at the 2023 AFCON tournament last-16 in the hands of Nigeria.

According to ESPN, Eto’o offered to step down at an executive committee meeting that was called to assess the failed AFCON campaign by Cameroon, while encouraging other Fecafoot members “to do likewise in good faith.”

Fecafoot has since released a statement confirming that Eto’o’s resignation had been rejected, saying: “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.”

Eto’o has received backing from his Fecafoot colleagues despite being dogged by serious allegations over the past year.

Last week, The Athletic claimed to have seen WhatsApp messages and audio recordings allegedly supporting a series of accusations, including “match-fixing, abuse of power, physical threats, inciting violence and spreading false information in Cameroon.” FIFA has received a file containing details of the allegations, which is also being investigated by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Eto’o, already under investigation from CAF over allegations from “several Cameroonian football stakeholders”, is presumed innocent until an appropriate judicial body concludes otherwise.