Sports
Leaked Conversation Lands Eto’o In Messy Scandal
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.
Sports
Leicester City Put Up For Sale
General view of a Leicester City sign from the front of King Power StadiumLeicester City are looking to sell the club for more than £200m, with its Thai owners King Power ready to leave after 16 years.
The Foxes have had an eight-page sales booklet produced by a leading US investment bank to help offload the one-time Premier League title winners.
Citigroup lists the Foxes, its women’s team, and other major assets – including the 32,000-seat King Power Stadium and its Seagrave training facility which was opened in 2020 and is valued at £121m – as well as OH Leuven, Leicester’s Belgian sister club, as up for sale in a brochure titled ‘Project Lineup’.
The document, seen by BBC Sport, values the club’s physical assets at more than £200m, though no specific sum has been attributed to the sale of its struggling teams.
The brochure speaks of “a rare opportunity to acquire a club with an excellent track record of winning promotions to higher divisions”.
Leicester’s successes, including the 5,000-1 Premier League title win of 2016 and the FA Cup triumph five years later, are well promoted in the brochure, while their place in League One, after back-to-back relegations from the top flight and the Championship, fail to get a mention.
The club’s turnover, which Citigroup forecast to be more than £97m for the 2026 financial year are also part of the pitch, but the years of financial losses and the club’s debts – which, as outlined in its 2025 accounts, include £103.6m in bank loans – are omitted.
In the years that the club yo-yoed between the Premier League and Championship, with two relegations from the top flight in three years between 2023 and 2025, the club lost more than £180m.
King Power, run by the Srivaddhanaprabha family, bought Leicester for £35m from Milan Mandaric in 2010.
Khun Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha is currently chairman after his father Khun Vichai died in a helicopter crash outside the stadium in 2019.
Efforts to put the third-tier club up for sale were first reported in the Financial Times, external in July, but the product brochure now being circulated to prospective buyers is public confirmation that new investors are being sought.
The sale process comes just eight months on from Khun Top saying he is shouldering the blame for the club’s drastic recent demise.
There have been growing calls from disgruntled fans for the club to be sold, with the most vocal showing coming outside King Power Stadium after relegation from the Championship was confirmed last season.
Leicester’s struggles in recent years have come at a time when the King Power duty-free business in Thailand, which has been intrinsically linked to the club since the Srivaddhanaprabha family bought the Foxes, has also endured financial difficulties.
Despite the club’s issues, Leicester City is being positioned for sale as one of only five clubs to have won all three major English trophies – the Premier League, the FA Cup and the League Cup – since 2000.
The document also outlines the potential of the club’s academy, stating the Foxes have a “strong talent pipeline backed by leading scouting infrastructure, active transfer management and highly developed academy system consistently producing top players”.
Leicester sold academy graduate Jeremy Monga to Manchester City for £10m last month.
Leicester, relegated to League One for just the second time in their history last season, will start their latest campaign in the third tier under head coach Russell Martin at Notts County on Saturday.
Sports
Amorim Wants Tomori, Nkunku 6 Other AC Milan Stars Out Of Club
AC Milan coach Ruben Amorim has decided Fikayo Tomori and Christopher Nkunku do not figure in his plans this season.
David Odogu, Pervis Estupinan, Santiago Gimenez and Philip Terracciano are also expected to leave after Amorim held a crunch meeting with club bosses on Thursday.
The Portuguese, who was dismissed by United in January following a dismal 14 months in charge, accepted the task of transforming Milan’s fortunes – with the Italian giants finishing fifth last season.
He is set for a reunion with his old side this weekend in Poland, where he will search for his first win in charge of his new club having failed to register a victory in pre-season.
A 2-2 draw with Scottish champions Celtic was followed by a 1-1 tie with fierce rivals Inter Milan, before Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea put three goals past the Portuguese’s side in a woeful result in Jakarta.
But Amorim is ready to embrace the challenge, and suggested that his task at the San Siro is even greater than his job at Old Trafford.
‘I’m really very happy to be here, it’s an honour to be the coach of Milan,’ he said.
‘Why did I choose Milan? If you read an old interview of mine you will understand it, for me a special club.
‘It’s a very big challenge that I accepted even if after the last one [at Manchester United] I told myself to accept a smaller one.
‘Perhaps it is a greater challenge than the last. I’m proud to be here, we all are, me and my staff.
‘I’m at Milan to win, if you’re Milan coach you have to have this mentality,’ he added.
‘I’m not naive, I know there’s a lot of work to do, but if you’re the Milan coach you have to play to win.’
Sports
Transfer: Man Utd Name 6 Clubs Rashford Can’t Join
Manchester United co-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has blocked Marcus Rashford from joining any direct Premier League rival.
According to the UK Mirror, the Red Devils are determined to avoid a scenario where Rashford shines at a domestic competitor.
The 28-year-old is back at Carrington for pre-season training following a loan spell at Barcelona, but his long-term future at Old Trafford remains uncertain.
Ratcliffe wants to remove Rashford from United’s wage bill, but he won’t sanction a move to the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City or Liverpool
The restrictions extend to loan inquiries, as Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur have been rebuffed.
There is fear among United senior officials that Rashford could prove instrumental in helping a rival secure a Champions League spot, a scenario that would be viewed as ’embarrassing’ by the club’s top brass.
-
Health & Wellness12 months agoPresident Tinubu Directs Cut in Dialysis Cost from ₦50,000 to ₦12,000
-
News1 year agoPICTURE: In Lagos Couple Sentenced to 22½ Years for Cannabis Trafficking
-
Trending News1 year agoNELFUND Disburses ₦86bn To 449,000 Beneficiaries
-
Business5 months agoDangote Refinery Reduces Petrol Gantry Price To ₦1,200 Per Litre
-
Business2 years agoHeritage Bank Customers’ Path to Securing ₦5m Insured Funds: A Step-By-Step Guide by NDIC”
-
International News5 months agoIndian Police Arrest Nigerian Over ₦290m Drug Haul
-
Business5 months agoAfter Plea Bargain, Court Discharges Stella Oduah of ₦2.5bn Fraud
-
Business2 years ago
Dangote; We Did Not Fix ₦600/Litre Petrol Price
