This week a scandal has shaken the Cameroonian Football Federation (CFF) and more specifically its president, Samuel Eto’o, after the publication of a conversation he had at the beginning of the year with the head of the Victoria United club, a club that then played in the second category and that a few weeks ago achieved promotion to the top division. In the talk you can see how the former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker promises the manager that his team would rise to the first.
The texts were published by the Camfoot portal and in just hours an earthquake has been unleashed in football in that country. To understand the context, the dialogue took place between January 2 and 3 and one of the protagonists Valentine Gwain, president of Victoria United, who on December 30 had interrupted a match that his team lost 1-0 by invading the pitch in the 86th minute angry at the referee’s performance.
The talk begins when Gwain calls Eto’o, president of the federation, to express his frustration that his team, which was struggling to promote, had been harmed by the judge’s work. Faced with this, he receives the immediate response of the former Cameroonian striker: “There are things we can do, but you have to be very discreet brother.” And at the insistence, he explains that at that moment he was going home, after having celebrated New Year, so he would soon get to work on it: “I haven’t even had time to get home yet. I’m out, brother. I haven’t even had time to go home and work with the president (of the referees association) because I can’t call the referees directly and tell them to be careful. But I can work with the president.”
On several occasions, Eto’o recalls a conversation the two had in Qatar during the World Cup, although he makes no reference to the content of it. The portal assures that it is a talk in which he promised the promotion of his team, Victoria United, since Gwain had supported him in his project to the presidency.
“You stay calm, we give you your three points and we suspend the referee. But let me at least go back to Cameroon,” the former footballer promises him then. “I arrive on the 3rd (of January) at night. So see you in the office on the 4th. But I’m going to rule this referee out anyway. I am disqualifying this referee. On the 4th we will see you in the office, and so I will summon the president of the referees.”
During the dialogue, the former footballer is always insistent that the meeting be kept away from the focus of the press and the public: “It is better that we see each other discreetly. You even organize two days, invite your women to Yaoundé, meet discreetly, talk and leave.” In addition, he explains that the key is to have a good relationship with the president of the league: “He has the power … And from there, he with his commissions, will be able to suspend even the president of the referees.
Precisely, Gwain is annoyed with Fokoule, leader of the refereeing, whom he accuses of having placed a referee to harm him in the last game: “It is something planned to destroy me.”
Faced with that comment, Eto’o is blunt in his response: “No, no, no, no. Our club, Opopo (nickname by which Victoria United is known), must go up to the first division. That’s our goal.” Then, he promises that he will meet with the head of the arbitration and the president of the league to talk about it: “We are going to meet the three of us, and we are going to talk discreetly and we are going to fix all that.”
In April, Victoria United were crowned champions of the second division and thus achieved promotion to the top flight. Interestingly, since Eto’o won the election, it is the second promotion he achieves, since in 2020 he was in the third. In addition, in the middle of the season, goalkeeper Idris Youssouf was separated from the squad after an audio of him sent to a friend went viral in which he confessed that the club was fixing matches to get the title.
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