“Football in Cameroon: the lingering issues”

Cameroon, also known as Africa in miniature, is one of the countries in Africa with relative political stability, until late 2016. By her enormous material and human resources, she is an economic power in the Central Africa sub-region. Her growing population estimated about 23 million, are diverse sports enthusiasts, especially football – the most popular sports in the country, played in all nocks and cranny, from obscure villages to cities. 

   

Football in Cameroon predated independence. The Cameroon Football Federation known in its French acronym as FECAFOOT is the local football governing body, created in 1959. It joined the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFFA) and Confederation of African Football (CAF) after independence in 1962 and 1963, respectively. It’s in charge of actual management of the game of football in Cameroon, including all national football teams, male and female, from youth to senior teams. Football events and or programmes are handled by this football house though under the supervision of the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education. FECAFOOT organizes the Cameroon Cup – the oldest and most popular football event in the country. Final game of Cameroon Cup is usually presided by the Head of State, according to constitutional provision. Cameroon’s domestic football league (both male and female) is equally organized and managed by FECAFFOT. The main league (male football league) started as a harmonized league for West and East Cameroon in 1968, when the then West Cameroon football league was surreptitiously disbanded. The Federal Football League was thrown up, which later stayed with its former East Cameroon appellation “The National First Division Championship”.

In the sixties, seventies and early eighties, the first division Championship was a stiff competition among domestic football clubs. Most of these clubs were formed according to tribal and or regional lines, with solid fan base that are sometimes fanatical.  Match days used to be great fanfare for winners and sorrow for losers, and often marked with violence - at the time when football was less lucrative and played just for the pleasure of it. Those were the days of football clubs like Oryx, Caimant, Dynamo and Union Sportive of Douala, Cambank, P & T and Prisons of Buea, Lion, Canon, Tonnerre Kalala and Diamant, all in Yaounde, PWD Bamenda, PWD Kumba, etc.

These clubs produced football greats and legends like Mbape Lepe, Joseph Ewunkem, Rodolphe Tokoto, Gregoire Mbida, Manga Onguene, Theophile Abega, Thomas Nkono and Emmanuel Kunde. Later were Bell Antoine, Milla Roger, Louis-Paul Mfede, the Biyick brothers of Francois Omam-Biyick and Kanan Biyick, and many others. They dominated Cameroon domestic football at the time and also brought the country to limelight in African football through clubs like Canon, which played a unique style of football that nick-named them 'Brazilians of Africa'. Canon won continental tittles: the African Cup of Champions in 1978 and 1980, as well as the African Winners Cup in 1979. These crop of players also formed integral part of the national team in the sixties, played in the national team when Cameroon hosted the African Cup of Nations in 1972 and the world Cup in 1982, where the team participated without loosing a match, though kicked out in the first round.

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Between the last five decades and now, Cameroon football and even the domestic league has evolved. The national first division championship metamorphosed into Cameroon Professional League, operating into Divisions one and two, comprising 18 football clubs for Division one (as was in the 60’s) and 15 for Division two. The league has become comparatively lucrative, with corporate sponsorships. Communication giant like MTN are picking up sponsorship bills.

Development of grassroots and youth football has come to the fore over these periods. Inter-quarter football competitions are gaining momentum - organized during summer holidays to get more students and other young people involved. It is sponsored mainly by local council authorities and sometimes prominent Elites of towns and villages. The competition has a national spread.

The popular “Top Cup” football competition is another competition organized for different categories of youths, sponsored by the Brewery Company ‘Le Brasseries du Cameroon’. These football competitions saw the emergence of small village or community football clubs. Rural clubs like Ikata Farmers in Meme Division of Southwest Region came through this rank and made indelible marks in the Southwest regional interpool football tournament. Football academies also sprang up, like the Brasseries football academy, Njalla Quan football academy and others – training many young people in aspects of the game of football. This dimension of youth football development harnessed potentials and showcased young talents. It groomed young players who not only came to national football limelight but later formed the bedrock of different cadres of the national football team. They also formed part of Cameroon professional footballers plying their trade in other developed football leagues in the world. The likes of Augustine Simo, Samuel Eto’o, Rigobert Song, late Fue MacVivan, and others who were part of the national team at one time or the other, emanated from this process.

This process somewhat reflected on the glory days of Cameroon football in Africa. Though the country has not done significantly well in youth championships in the continent, the senior national team, Indomitable Lions has been very successful by all standards. Founded in 1959, the Indomitable Lions has won African Cup of Nations five times (including back to back in 2000 and 2002), with latest win this 2017. It has made six world cup appearances, with a scintillating performance in 1990, where it got to the quarter final, being the first African team to do so. This feat was among the considerations that gingered the increase of African participating teams from three to five, at the Mondial. The Lions as popular called in Cameroon, has equally won football gold at the Olympics and runners-up at the FIFFA Confederation cup. On individual basis, some Cameroon players have won the annual African Best Player Award at different times; notably Milla Roger, Thomas Nkono and Samuel Eto’o who won it for a record five times.

As laudable as these achievements, it is rather paradoxical that football in Cameroon is still bedeviled by challenges. Endemic corruption, poor infrastructure, poor management and administration are some lingering issues which have negatively impacted football in the country.

Corruption is somewhat institutionalized in Cameroon’s football management and structure, like a cankerworm nourishing deep on the system. It has become both the motivation and goal to serve in football management positions. It goes in the way of ‘dash’, ‘gifts’, ‘greasing of palms’, outright embezzlement and misappropriation. According to a football club manager, those who think Cameroon football is doing well simply because the national team always qualify for international tournaments like AFCON and World Cup, are wrong. Individual Cameroonian football players, especially those playing for foreign clubs, are doing well. They are the ones propping up the national team but football at home is dying. Former General Manager of Fecafoot, Jean-Lambert Nang, said in his book ‘Desperate Football House’: “Cameroon football is a victim of treachery, fraud, financial trafficking, corruption of the actors and personnel, impunity on the part of its main stakeholders, falsification of official documents and the ages of footballers as well as the indifference of officialdom”. Nang, who is also a celebrated sports journalist, seconded to Fecafoot by the government, was sacked as General Manager because he was viewed by Fecafoot as a spy who came only to dig out what’s done in the football house. He cited several cases where personal interests were placed before the general interest of football and its main actors – the players:

During the 1998 World Cup, the then Minister of Communication who was in charge of allowances intended for players, simply pocketed the money and announced that he had ‘forgotten’ the bag containing the money in the aircraft. Another minister, collected eight million FCFA (US $16 000) for an air ticket saying that the ticket bought for him had gone missing. He eventually boarded the plane using the ticket which was supposedly missing. In 2007, one of the private mobile telephone operators in the country (MTN) signed a convention with Fecafoot for the renovation of a number of stadia in the country for a total sum of 400 million FCFA (about US $800 000). The telephone company was to provide 300 million FCFA (US $600 000) and FECAFOOT 100 million (US $200 000). While MTN disbursed part of its own share of the money for commencement of work, Fecafoot would not come up with its own money. At one time the company threatened to stop financing the project unless Fecafoot pay its share. But instead of the football management paying up in order to ensure that the renovation work continued, it gave 73 million FCFA (about US $146 000) to the then Minister of Youth and Sports so that he could “breathe better” – as he said after receiving the money. At the of the 2014 World Cup, football officials from Cameroon, including then Fecafoot president overpaid themselves by 235 million FCFA (US $470 000). They were ordered by Prime Minister Philemon Yang to repay the money. Few years ago, Parliament appropriated a total of 12 035 585 000 FCFA (about US $24.1 million) for the renovation of existing infrastructure and preparation of players for international competitions within three years. There is nothing to show for this money.

Poor infrastructure or facilities has been the bane of football growth and development in Cameroon. Divine providence has endowed the country with abundant football talents, more than it has so far been tapped. Many of these talents never found expressions due to gross lack of facilities; raising the issue of luck, player’s exposure, skill, passion and personal efforts to succeed, as instrumental in Cameroon’s modest achievements in international football. Many football experts never attributed these achievements to impact of good football infrastructure, in a country where professional domestic league matches are still played on hard rough ground sometimes laden with red mud and players splashing through deep puddles, when it rains. This is happening in this 21^st century.

Until Cameroon commenced preparation for both the 2016 and 2019 AFCON, football facilities in the country was in complete comatose. The country could boast of two main stadia: Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaoundé and Reunification stadium Douala, both built in 1972 when she played host to the African Nations Cup. Later, the Garoua Rhoumji Adja stadium came. Yaoundé and Garoua stadia were more in use and therefore had intermittent face lifts because of the football engagements of Coton Sport Garoua, and the national football teams. Douala stadium was more of debris.

The new stadia in Limbe and Baffoussam, ongoing second stadia in Yaoundé and Douala (all with adjoining training pitches), are ripple effects of Cameroon’s hosting rights for the two AFCON competitions, majority of funding which are from partnership agreements and loan facilities. If AFCON had not been in view, obviously the status quo of ruin, dilapidation and total lack of football infrastructure could have persisted.

Poor management and administration is a critical menace of football in Cameroon. Football management is laden with corruption, breeding nepotism, tribalism and favouritisms in the appointment of football administrators. FIFFA’s stand on non-interference and independence of national football associations will remain an international chorus as far as government funds football association, which is also indirectly accountable to government. There are many instances where government had to step in to save the country and national team from international embarrassment on issues of player’s bonuses and wages of technical manager and staff..

  

Appointment of Minister in charge of sports and so called election of Fecafoot executive committee are manipulated and influenced by government in one way or the other; thereby creating jobs and opportunities for political loyalists, friends and cronies. This leads to football positions having increasing political significance where merit and competence are completely voided. One time head coach of the national team Artur Jorge resigned his position because of undue interference in the technical management of the national football team by then Minister of Sports and Physical Education. Such interference ensures talent and skill are jettisoned for mediocrity, in the selection of players for all levels of national team. Former executive vice- president of defunct mount Cameroon football club, Buea said that the current management style and regulations of Cameroon Football Federation needs complete overhaul.

Transparency and accountability in management is non-existing. Cash awards in international tournaments like the six AFCON victories, FIFFA grants for world cup participations, gate takings from international and local matches are all shrouded in secrecy – like an in-house affair between the football body and other government stakeholders.  At one time, staff at the Fecafoot headquarters almost brought football activities to a standstill because they were owed 44 months’ salary. FIFA sent money to Fecafoot to pay the arrears. However, officials paid only 16 months’ arrears and pocketed the money for the remaining 28 months.

To move forward, the state of football in Cameroon needs critical diagnosis for appropriate steps to be taken to effect changes. Football remains the most popular sports in the country that has become integral part of social life of the population. Cameroonians of all levels are great football fans. Condoning corruption in the system is capable of suffocating their passion for the game and their unflinching support for the national team. Therefore issue of corruption should be adequately addressed even if it requires effective legislation for punitive measures.

‘Operation Sparrow hawk’ – the anti-corruption move of government should be strengthened and football management included in its scope. The football house and supervisory authority in the country needs sound management. Development of the game as a viable commercial entity will never be possible if mismanagement and administrative malfeasance continues. Domestic league should be improved, with processes for selection or election, transparency and accountability put in place - which gives the populace a stake and sense of belonging.

Sound administration and management will reflect on good vision to develop football infrastructure beyond major football events. The need therefore to devise better strategy for maintenance culture that will sustain ongoing infrastructural upgrades in the country, as benefits of hosting CAF tournaments.

Written By:  Godycreative

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