24, August 2024
Marc Brys alleges FECAFOOT has physically threatened him, intimidated players 0
The Cameroon men’s national team head coach Marc Brys has alleged he has been subjected to “physical threats”, deprived of basic equipment and his players were sent threatening letters “designed to demoralise them” by the Cameroon Football Association (Fecafoot) during his first international window as head coach in June.
Brys, who was appointed head coach in May by the Cameroonian government, was part of a standoff with Fecafoot in May after they initially resisted his appointment. Fecafoot appeared to appoint an interim replacement after a clash between the head coach and president Samuel Eto’o.
A conciliatory press conference alongside Eto’o, where the Fecafoot president apologised, suggested the rift was healed however it now appears that significant tensions remain.
A letter, seen by The Athletic, was sent by Fecafoot to Brys on August 18, 2024, asking for the coach to explain himself within 72 hours following an interview Belgian news outlet Derniere Heure (DH).
In the interview, Brys made a series of allegations, including that his goalkeeper, Manchester United’s Andre Onana, had to warm up alone for the match against Angola on June 11 as his assistants were not accredited and, of Eto’o, that he “is very influential, but his only success is as a footballer. In other areas — coaching, business, and evidently, as a leader — he has failed.”
Eto’o, a former striker for FC Barcelona and Inter Milan, has been president of Fecafoot since December 2021 but has been the subject of multiple allegations. He was fined by the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) in July following an investigation into alleged violation of the principles of ethics and integrity. Eto’o was cleared of manipulating football matches.
In a letter dated August 21 2024, which The Athletic has also seen, Brys has responded to Fecafoot by detailing that he will not be a “yes yes” coach and went on to demand answers regarding a series of failings during his first weeks as the head coach, calling the period the “greatest frustrations of my coaching career”.
Brys expanded on his allegations in the interview with DH. Addressing the secretary general of Fecafoot, he wrote, with reference to Cameroon’s World Cup qualifiers against Angola and Cape Verde in June: “How can a coach be deprived of teaching materials (confiscation of jerseys, balls, bus) as part of the training sessions for an essential match to qualify relating to qualifying for the Canada-United States World Cup?
“How do you understand that people I don’t know, with whom I have never worked, find themselves in my dressing room on match day?
“On the eve of the match against Angola, how do you understand that threatening letters are sent to players with copies to their clubs, despite a crushing victory against Cape Verde? This was intended to demoralise them.
“How do you understand when we disembarked in Luanda (the capital city of Angola), I was the victim of verbal attacks from Mr Benoit Angbwa, physical aggression from Mr Thierry Ndoh and that subsequently, Dr Fotso tried to expel me from the national selection bus during our transfer to the hotel? How do you believe that Fecafoot refused to accredit my assistants, forcing the first-choice goalkeeper of the Indomitable Lions to warm up on his own? When we know that for specialists, this is a specific activity with a view to conditioning the national team’s last line of defence. This is unheard of in world football for a national team.”
Brys also claimed that he had seen no condemnation from Fecafoot regarding the personal “attacks” and that he had been the victim the insults of all kinds against me and family”. He then stated his wish to continue working with Fecafoot “only give us polite, courteous professional interlocutors and we will all work together to advance the national team”.
Tensions first emerged in May following Brys’s appointment as Cameroon head coach, which was made by the Cameroon ministry of sport to the “great astonishment” of Fecafoot.
Video footage emerged in May of Eto’o and Brys appearing to have a heated exchange, with Fecafoot then writing in a statement that the decision to replace Brys had been taken following an emergency meeting, convened by Eto’o due to the “inappropriate behaviour” of Brys and his assistants.
The federation announced that Martin Ndtoungou had taken over the Cameroon team on an interim basis and was to hold a press conference to reveal his squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde and Angola.
But, following what it described as a “fruitful and convivial meeting”, Fecafoot clarified the status of the team in a further statement that week, outlining Brys was to remain as head coach, with Joachim Mununga as his assistant.
Eto’o then apologised to Brys in a press conference the pair held, stating that there were a “lot of emotions” in their previous “unfortunate” encounter.
Cameroon are due to face Namibia and Zimbabwe next month as part of qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations, to be held in Morocco.
The Athletic has contacted Brys and Fecafoot for comment.
Source: The Athletic
26, August 2024
Bundes: Chancellor Scholz vows to increase deportations after visit to Solingen mass stabbing site 0
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government was looking at more ways to increase the rate of deportations during a visit to the site of a deadly mass stabbing carried out by a suspected Islamic State group member from Syria. Speaking during the visit, Scholz said that deportations had already increased by some two thirds compared to 2021 levels.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to step up deportations on Monday during a visit to Solingen, where a deadly mass stabbing linked to the Islamic State group has emboldened the far-right opposition and stoked criticism of his government’s handling of migration.
“We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Scholz told reporters in the western city, where he laid a flower at the scene of the crime.
“This was terrorism, terrorism against us all,” he added.
The attack, in which a 26-year-old suspected Islamic State group member from Syria is accused of killing three people, has fuelled political tensions over asylum and deportation rules ahead of three state elections next month.
The militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred on Friday evening during a festival celebrating Solingen’s 650-year history. Alongside the three killed, eight were injured, some seriously.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which campaigns for a crackdown on migration, is leading in the polls in Saxony and Thuringia, where state elections are set for Sunday, and in Brandenburg, which has its election on Sept. 22.
The AfD seized on the attack in its election campaign, with Thuringia’s leading candidate for the party, Bjoern Hoecke, pitching to voters the choice of “Hoecke or Solingen”.
Opinion pollsters Stefan Merz of Infratest dimap and Manfred Guellner of Forsa told Reuters the attack would be unlikely to translate into more votes for the far-right party because its supporters had already been mobilised by migration issues.
Infratest dimap’s Merz cited the possibility that the centre-right CDU could benefit at the expense of Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats.
Botched deportation
The attack puts pressure on Scholz as his Social Democrats, alongside their Green and Free Democrat coalition partners, bruised from months of quarrelling, are trailing in the polls.
In a sign of tougher rhetoric, Scholz promised in October 2023 to ramp up deportations “big style” – a promise he repeated after his visit to the Solingen attack scene.
Again in June, Scholz said he would take a tougher stance on deportation after an Afghan man stabbed a police officer, who later died of his injuries, during an attack on a right-wing demonstration in the city of Mannheim.
Scholz said on Monday deportations had increased by some two thirds compared to 2021 levels. “But that is no reason for us to sit back and relax,” he added, saying the government was looking at legal and practical ways to boost the numbers.
Authorities had planned to deport the suspect in Friday’s attack to Bulgaria last year under European Union asylum rules, according to German media. The deportation was unsuccessful because the man had not been at his refugee accommodation when authorities tried to carry out the measure, the reports said.
A government spokesperson said the deportation plan had “failed in practice” rather than on any legal basis.
Source: Reuters