The Gabonese football national team aka the Panthers of Gabon arrived Victoria-Limbe for a friendly encounter with the Lions of Cameroon today evening. The match organized by the Cameroon Football Federation is to prepare the Lions for the Africa Cup of Nations 2017. The game begins at 7 pm.

The Gabonese conducted the traditional tour of the stadium on Monday while their Cameroonian counterparts in turn held a training session within the same facility.

The Lions Indomitable will face the Panthers of Gabon without TOKO Karl, SIANI Sebastian, TEIKEU Adolphe and ONDOA Fabrice-the four players who were instrumental in the victory last Saturday against Gambia. Cameroon Concord News understands the four were authorized by coach Hugo Broos, to join their clubs.

By Sama Ernest

After five days of training at the CAF Center for Excellence located in Mbankomo, some few kilometers from Yaounde, the Indomitable Lions have reportedly moved to the port city of Victoria-Limbe in the South West region without Clinton Njie. Cameroon Concord News understands the new Victoria stadium will host Gambia and Gabon respectively.

The Indomitable Lions conducted a training session at the stadium sports complex upon arrival. The session saw the presence of many cheering fans that were informed that head coach Hugo Broos will hold a press conference on Friday to speak of the Gambian game.

The Indomitable Lions next two matches are no major issues. Already qualified for the finals of AFCON Gabon 2017, Hugo Broos and his boys are going to use these matches to assess in view of the final round of qualifying for the World Cup Russia 2018 Africa area that starts in the month October, 2016.

By Sama Ernest

Following the poor performance of Team Cameroon in the Rio Olympic Games 2016, Jeune Afrique International magazine recently invoked the memories of the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000 which saw Cameroon winning an Olympic Gold Medal in football. While Cameroon went unnoticed in Rio, Jeune Afrique successfully traced the 16 Cameroon football legends of Sydney 2000 revealing their activities after departing from the beautiful game.

The attackers

Samuel Eto’o: He still plays football in Turkey Antalyasport, after going through Majorca, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Anzhi, Chelsea, Everton and Genoa … Eto’o owns many football schools and heads a foundation that cares for disadvantaged, including refugees in northern Cameroon, in partnership with UNHCR and Oxfam.

Patrick Mboma: Retired since 2005, after scoring 33 goals in 56 caps for the Lions, is a consultant for Canal + Africa. He also football FIFA agent and at some point was involved in the activities of the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT.  He also launched a business venture via the Hope Finance Company. The adventure nevertheless ended in court, and the company was declared bankrupt.

Patrick Suffo: He played his football in France, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Norway, Israel and England, where he finished his career. After working as a sports agent (he notably negotiated the loan of his compatriot Jean Makoun to Olympiakos in Greece in 2011), he turned into a businessman and today is an economic operator Cameroon in the oil sector. He had previously worked as a public relations officer for an oil company in Norway.

Albert Meyong: He is still active and currently plays in southern Portugal for club Vitória Setúbal.  He also had a two-year transition in Angola, Kabuscorp. He played for the Indomitable Lions until 2009.

Midfielders

Lauren Mayer Etamé:  After five seasons in Spain, in 2000 he moved to the Premiership and joined Arsenal, where he remained until December 2006. He had a spell with Portsmouth until June 2009. Lauren signed for Córdoba CF 2010 a Spanish second division for half a season before retiring. He then worked with ITV4, British television for Sky Sports and for Spain as a consultant. He lives in Seville, Spain with his family.

Geremi Njitap:  His brilliant career took him to Turkey, Spain and England. After Real Madrid, Chelsea and Newcastle United, he played in Turkey and then again in Greece until 2011. He has now become a businessman in Cameroon, particularly in the property sector.

Nicolas Alnoudji: He played in Turkey, France, Belgium, Portugal and Malta. He returned to play in Cameroon in 2014 and is still in football business with Bamboutos club of Mbouda.

Serge Mimpo: He was in Greece in 2000 with the club Ethnikos Asteras where he had three great seasons. He then moved to France and played for Paris FC from 2003 to 2009, then to National CFA, FCM Aubervilliers (2011-2012) and then to USA Clichy. He now coaches the reserve team.

Modeste M’Bami:  A former player with Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Marseille, he travelled to Spain, China, Saudi Arabia and Colombia before joining the French club Le Havre. He is still evolving in Ligue 2 as a midfielder. He played in the national team until 2009.

Clement Beaud: He played in Poland, Lithuania, China and Portugal. He was part of the workforce Club Semache in the Portuguese fourth division until 2013. He still lives in Portugal.

Daniel Ngom Kome: His career came to an abrupt end because of a right knee osteoarthritis, which earned him three operations of the meniscus. Father of two children (seven and eight years old), he lives in Douala and is now the representative of the Spanish Mahou beer and co-manager of Future EM Sarl (official sponsor of the Cameroon Football Federation).

The defenders

Pierre Wome: He played in Italy with Inter Milan and Bologna and moved to England, then Spain and finally to Germany, after a brief return to Italy. In 2010, he engaged with a Gabonese club before returning to Cameroon, playing in Garoua and Yaoundé. In 2014, Pierre Wome he was in France, where he joined FC Chambly, Country Club and in 2015 with the US Roye-Noyon, where he is still evolving. He was involved Hope Finance Company scandal and had a legal battle with one time teammate Patrick Mboma.

Patrice Abanda: He was in Greece and the Czech Republic (Sparta Prague, Teplice). During a medical visit to Dynamo Kiev, a liver problem (hepatitis) was diagnosed and that put an end to his career in December 2005. He returned to Cameroon and now works for the National Social Insurance Fund.

Aaron Nguimbat:  He left Canon Yaoundé, for Latvia- Skonto Riga. He was three times champion of Latvia and participated in the 2005-2006 Champions League before returning to Cameroon to Unisport Bafang. From 2007 to 2009, he was in Indonesia and signed with Sriwijaya FC and finally returned home where he lives and runs a small business.

Serge Branco:  After spells in Germany, England and Russia, where it has had problems of racism, he engaged with Duisburg, Germany, and QPR, England. He then headed to Oman where he won the championship and the cup in 2014. He works and lives in Frankfurt, Germany.

Joël Epalle:  After Sydney, he palyed in Greece and Germany. He remains the greatest player ever signed by FC Bochum in Germany. Former Cameroon international is now a coach. He took the reins of Val in Europe early in the 2015 season. The club plays in regional division.

The goalkeepers

Carlos Kameni:  He is the only player still active in the Cameroon national team. He is still under contract with the Malaga in Spain and had the luxury of stopping a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo in February.

Daniel Bekono: He evolved with Canon Yaoundé until 2002, then in Baham. He flew to Bulgaria, where he played until 2010, including FK CSKA Sofia, with whom he was champion in 2010. Daniel Bekono was dismissed for disciplinary problems in 2010 after missing several training sessions. He still lives in Bulgaria.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon under 17 Indomitable Lions have thrashed the Arambi stars of Kenya 7 goals to nil in a match counting for the second round of qualification for the 12^th edition of the Africa Cup of Nation 2017 in Madagascar.

The encounter was staged in Limbe in the South West region today.

The cadets will now travel on the 20^th of August to Nairobi Kenya for a return leg. Kenya will need to score eight goals to qualify. Lets hope they have a new Ambrose Ayoyi.

By Chi Prudence Asong

John Paintsil, former Ghana international defender has been appointed the new assistant coach of Kaizer Chiefs, a South African Premier League club. Painstil will work with head coach Steve Komphela.

The former defender of the Black Stars of Ghana who announced his retirement from the beautiful game last week replaces Doctor Khumalo.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)

In what has been described as a major blow to the Togolese national football team on their way to qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nation, Gabon 2017, a French court has sentenced Claude Le Roy to two years in prison including an 18 months ban from all football activities this Friday June 17, 2016. Cameroon Intelligence Report learned that Le Roy was jailed following his involvement in some fraudulent transfer deals when he managed Racing Club of Strasbourg between 1998 and 2003.

The former Cameroon and Congo Kinshasa football trainer has been quoted as saying he was not aware of any illegality on the said transfers. Our senior football correspondent who contributed to this report observed that if the sentence by the court is confirmed, it could upset the contract Claude Le Roy has with the Togolese national team. CIR sports desk is keeping a watchful eye on this developing story and we will keep our readers posted.

Ebong Kingsley (CIR)

Issa Hayatou, the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has sent a message of condolence to the President of the Nigeria Football Federation following the sudden death of the Great Stephen Keshi. Issa Hayatou expressed his “dismay” and his “immense sadness” to the Nigerian football family.

In the correspondence, the CAF President revisited the rich career of the deceased saying Keshi remains the first African coach to have qualified two African teams in a World Cup final: Togo in 2006 and Nigeria in 2014. He won the Africa Nations Cup with Nigeria both as a player and a coach in 1994 and 2013 respectively. Stephen Keshi is also the only African technician to have taken a selection from the continent to the second round of a World Cup tournament. He did that in 2014 in Brazil with Nigeria.

Rest in peace the BOSS

25 hotels have been selected by Cameroon for hosting of the various delegations and official CAF accredited journalists during the female Africa Cup of Nations 2016 to be held in Yaoundé and Limbe from the 19^th of November to the 03^rd of December. The 25 hotels are listed in Yaounde, Douala and Limbe. The 8 countries that qualified for the competition are:

Cameroon

Equatorial Guinea

Egypt

Kenya

South Africa

Ghana

Zimbabwe

Nigeria

The CPDM government says it has provided financial support to some private hotel developers to enable them run a 24 hours service.

CIR

One of African football’s best-known figures, Stephen Keshi, has died at the age of 54, the Nigeria Football Federation has said. A former captain of the Nigeria national team, Keshi was one of only two men to win the Africa Cup of Nations both as a player and a coach. He also managed Togo and Mali, and his playing career included a spell for Belgian club side Anderlecht.

He is thought to have suffered a heart attack, local media reported. As a player, Keshi was part of the Super Eagles team that won the Nations Cup in 1994 and narrowly missed out on a World Cup quarter-final place the same year. He coached the national side over three spells, leading Nigeria to the 2013 Nations Cup title in South Africa and the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

His contract was not renewed after the World Cup but he later returned on a match-by-match deal following the team’s failure to reach the 2015 Nations Cup finals. He was then sacked as caretaker coach but reinstated after intervention from then Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan. He was sacked for a final time last July.

BBC

Egypt, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco and Cameroon have so far clinched their qualification spots for the final phase of the tournament in Gabon. Six of the sixteen teams to take part in the final phase of the African Cup of Nations to take place early next year in Gabon are already known. They are namely, Egypt, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon and host country Gabon. While Gabon got her qualification from the office by winning the bid to host the 2017 edition of the tournament, the others had to slot it out from the green turf of the pitch after taking an unassailable lead in their respective groups.

Egypt and Morocco were the first countries to qualify and will be making a return to the continental scene after having missed out on the 2015 edition of the tournament in Equatorial Guinea. Egypt simply didn’t qualify after having been stunned by little known Republic of Congo in the last and crucial qualification match. Meanwhile Morocco was banned from taking part in the competition after refusing to host the competition because of Ebola scare.

The sentence was higher but Morocco appealed the decision and the ban was lifted. After winning the legal battle Morocco also won on the pitch of play dominating Group F earning 12 points in four outings. Egypt equally sailed through Group G virtually unperturbed with 10 points in four outing with Nigeria coming distant second in the group with barely two points.

Algeria and Senegal also picked up their qualification tickets before the last day of play of the qualifiers top come up during the weekend running from September second to third. Algeria sailed through Group G with flying colours obtaining 13 points in five outings and can no longer be caught up by the runners up of the group, Ethiopia with barely five points.

Meanwhile Senegal witnessed an unbeaten run in Group K winning all fifteen points up for grab in the group so far and will also be making a return to the continental scene in Gabon. Cameroon as already known picked up the lone qualification ticket in Group M after butting out the last surviving contender, Mauritania in the fifth qualification match on Friday June 3^rd.

The rest of the qualified nations will be known after the last day of play of the qualifiers on September second and third. Besides the respective group leaders, the overall best runners-up of all the 13 groups join the host for the final phase of the competition in Gabon.

Cameroon Tribune