FECAFOOT, the Cameroonian Football Federation

How the federation began

Around 1947 a sports federation began organising the disciplines played in the territory, and a Cameroon Football League later brought the clubs together. On 11 January 1959 an extraordinary general assembly in Yaoundé dissolved that league and created FECAFOOT, placed under the deputy prime minister in charge of education. Amos Ngankou was its first president. The federation joined CAF in 1963; for FIFA, French Wikipedia gives 1962 and English Wikipedia 1964, with provisional admission in 1962.

The presidents

Crises and FIFA normalisation

Mohammed Iya, elected on 11 April 2000 and in charge during the 2000 and 2002 continental titles and the Sydney Olympic gold, was arrested in June 2013. A normalisation committee chaired by Joseph Owona then ran the federation until 2015 and organised an election won by Tombi à Roko Sidiki; the vote was challenged and annulled by the arbitration chamber of the national Olympic committee. On 23 August 2017 FIFA appointed a new normalisation committee, chaired by lawyer Dieudonné Happi, for six months, tasked in particular with auditing the accounts and rewriting the statutes. According to Camer.be, its mandate was extended to 31 August 2018 without its tasks being completed.

Seidou Mbombo Njoya was then elected, but his 2018 election was annulled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in January 2021, paving the way for the December 2021 vote.

Samuel Eto'o's presidency

On 11 December 2021 Samuel Eto'o beat Seidou Mbombo Njoya by 43 votes to 31; his candidacy had initially been threatened by a rule barring dual nationals. He took office on 17 January 2022. On 29 November 2025, as the only candidate, he was re-elected for four years with 85 votes out of 87, at an assembly held at CAF's centre of excellence near Yaoundé, attended by FIFA and CAF representatives. On 14 November the sports minister, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, had asked in writing for the vote to be postponed, citing among other things club suspensions he considered irregular; the territorial administration ministry allowed the assembly to go ahead. Since 12 March 2025 Eto'o has also sat on CAF's executive committee, after CAS ordered his reinstatement on the list of candidates.

• February 2024: after the exit at AFCON 2024, he offered his resignation, which the executive committee refused.
• April-May 2024: the authorities' appointment of Belgian coach Marc Brys, without consulting the federation, was contested by FECAFOOT, which eventually recognised his contract in May; a filmed altercation between Eto'o, Brys and a ministry official was followed by a public apology.
• Late September 2024: FIFA's disciplinary committee banned him for six months, until 31 March 2025, from attending Cameroon's national-team matches, over his conduct at a Cameroon-Brazil game at the U-20 Women's World Cup in Colombia.
• June 2025: the press reported a transfer of 455,056 euros from the Russian federation, linked to the 2023 Cameroon-Russia match, to an account in Qatar belonging to Eto'o; he denied any personal gain and cited technical constraints.
• 2 December 2025: FECAFOOT's emergency committee sacked Marc Brys and appointed David Pagou ahead of AFCON 2025. According to January 2026 press reports, the state never appointed him and he has no contract.

Federation and sports ministry: who decides?

In Cameroon the Lions' coach has traditionally been appointed and paid by the state, which puts the federation and the sports ministry (Minsep) in competition. FECAFOOT points out that FIFA statutes forbid political authorities from interfering in the running of federations. The conflict, officially settled in October 2024, flared up again in 2025 over the election and the coach. According to an article carried by AllAfrica in January 2026, the ministry has blocked contract requests since June 2024, and David Pagou received only match bonuses and a 60-million-CFA-franc participation allowance. The Lions' elimination in the 2026 World Cup play-off against DR Congo (0-1) on 13 November 2025 in Rabat took place against this backdrop.

Public money remains central. For the 2022 World Cup the participation budget was 8.4 billion CFA francs: the state contributed 3.8 billion and pre-financed FECAFOOT's 4.6 billion while FIFA funds were awaited, according to a finance minister's letter quoted by Business in Cameroon. The state also pays subsidies to clubs (560 million CFA francs in January 2025). In January 2026 the lawyer Me Sikati demanded that FECAFOOT return around 3 billion CFA francs to the treasury, arguing that actual spending at AFCON 2025 (around 1.98 billion by his count, including 1.11 billion in participation bonuses) was far below the budget.

The federation's budget

FECAFOOT's 2025 budget was approved unanimously by the executive committee, and the extraordinary general assembly of 24 May 2025 (49 of 61 members present) approved the accounts audited by Newko Audit and an amendment to the objectives contract signed with FIFA on 6 July 2023. The budget figure is not published in the sources consulted. After the 2022 World Cup, several Cameroonian media reported unpaid bills and financial difficulties at the federation.

Frequently asked questions