The mother and siblings of Borussia Dortmund youngster, Youssoufa Moukoko, are reportedly residing in a refugee home.

On the field, the Cameroon-born forward holds Bundesliga records as the youngest debutant and scorer, with his age is officially listed as 18.

On a personal note, Moukoko has been dogged by claims of age-cheating and most recently, heartbreaking reports about the current state of his family.

Earlier in the year, a birth certificate was made public from his adoptive father, indicating that he was born in the year 2000 – which would make him much older than 18.

In addition, German newspaper, BILD, has recently released images of Marie Moukoko, aged 35, escorting her son and daughter – who happen to be siblings of the player – to a refugee home on the outskirts of Hamburg.

According to the newspaper, Youssoufa’s family made the move to the refugee home as he ceased to provide financial support for their rent, despite his annual earnings of £5.1 million from Borussia Dortmund.

The report further states the 3,767-square-foot villa, where the family had resided, is now up for sale.

Despite being under the mother’s name and her having six children, the property is being seized due to outstanding debts amounting to £442,277.

Marie declined to criticise her son, per the Daily Star:

“It’s not an issue; he’s still young. After all, I have not just one child, but six children. The municipality found good accommodation for us – that’s all right. And I work too.”

Joseph, the father of the Dortmund prodigy, added:

“Our son no longer supports us. But do you think I would speak badly of him?”

Youssoufa was reportedly born in Yaounde, Cameroon, in November 2004 before moving to live in Germany in 2014.

Source: Sportsbrief

Mbaizo’s wife has sought U.S. visas for herself and the couple’s son for years, and always been rejected. The Union don’t want to lose an important player, but can’t change federal immigration laws.

Union right back Olivier Mbaizo’s long-running frustration with his family’s inability to get U.S. visas escalated Tuesday.

A source confirmed a report from the Athletic that Mbaizo has asked the Union to find a deal that gets him to another country, so that his wife and son can be with him instead of stuck in their native Cameroon. They’ve applied for visas multiple times in the 25-year-old’s five years here, and always been rejected.

This was music to the ears of teams abroad that have been quietly pursuing Mbaizo for a while, and now will get louder. They know that last fall, he became the first active Union player to make a World Cup team, even though he didn’t see the field in Qatar.

Sporting director Ernst Tanner’s phone likely lit up after the news broke, with inquiries hoping to leverage Mbaizo’s discontent into a discounted transfer fee.

The Union have been planing for a while to cash in on Mbaizo’s success, with Nathan Harriel growing into his role as a platoon-level right back. In fact, it would have come as no surprise had the Union sold Mbaizo during the winter.

Right now, though, Harriel is the only other right back on the roster. So the Union will presumably try to keep Mbaizo happy through the end of this season, then see what can be done.

Unfortunately, an answer that keeps Mbaizo here for the long term is likely out of the Union’s hands. His family’s inability to get visas is up to the federal government’s immigration policies. And Mbaizo is far from alone in being stuck.

The issue came up prominently in the last few days in the National Women’s Soccer League, with two players who will play in the upcoming World Cup. Racing Louisville and Nigeria forward Uchenna Kanu told the Athletic that her family has been denied U.S. entry visas for years, going back to when she graduated from Florida’s Southeastern University in 2019.

“I’ve had my teammates, their family come over and watch them, and sometimes I’m sad about that,” Kanu said. “There’s nothing I can do because I’ve tried a couple of times to invite them over and to visit [the United States], but sometimes they get denied visas. Especially when I was graduating college, I sent a letter to my mom and the Embassy of the United States to grant my mom a visa to come to my graduation and she got denied as well.”

Louisville and Brazil forward Ary Borges told the Athletic it’s been “a little cumbersome” to get her family into the U.S. And the difference in the players’ words isn’t just rhetorical – there are differences in how their countries get treated, here and elsewhere.

The citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners tracks data for a global ranking of how much access each country’s passport grants its citizens. Cameroon has a score of 50, while the United States has a score of 185. Nigeria’s is 45 and Brazil’s is 169.

Keep that in mind as the Union try to find a solution that works for all sides involved.

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

A group representing amateur clubs in Cameroon has called on legendary former player Samuel Eto’o to resign from his post as president of the country’s football federation, citing “grave irregularities” in the organisation.

Last week, Cameroon’s Amateur Clubs’ Association (ACFAC) voted 11-1 in favour of asking the four-time African Footballer of the Year to stand down.

It said the 42-year-old, who played for several of Europe’s top clubs, should resign “if he still loves Cameroonian football, as he has always claimed”.

ACFAC called for Cameroon’s sports minister to intervene, and mentioned the possibility of asking Fifa president Gianni Infantino to do the same.

Among its list of concerns, ACFAC said the decision to change the Fecafoot president’s mandate from four to seven years was both anti-statutory and illegal. It also highlighted the lack of publication of new statutes adopted last August.

There were also questions to answer, it said, about Eto’o’s decision to take an ambassadorial role with a sports betting company, which could be in violation of both Fifa and Fecafoot rules.

Fifa says people bound by its code “shall be forbidden from participating in, either directly or indirectly, betting, gambling, lotteries or similar events or transactions related to football matches or competitions and/or any related football activities”.

Football’s world governing body mentions a sanction of either a fine or ban from football for any violation of its ethics code regarding connections to betting and gambling, with any “direct or indirect financial interest” outlawed. It is unclear if Eto’o is personally profiting from his involvement with the company.

In late June, top-flight Cameroonian club UMS de Loum asked Fecafoot to investigate the matter, and also raised it with both Fifa and the Confederation of African Football (Caf).

Fecafoot has signed a deal with the same betting company to sponsor both the men’s and women’s international teams, as well as the top two divisions of the country’s football league.

In a statement issued at the time, the federation said the deal had been agreed in compliance with all ethical codes and was further proof of Eto’o’s drive to “modernise” Cameroonian football.

ACFAC also claimed in its statement that unnamed individuals in Fecafoot are manipulating matches in order to successfully bet on their outcomes.

The BBC invited Fecafoot to comment on the nature of ACFAC’s claims about the organisation and its president, but has received no response.

Questionable reign

Eto’o had a hugely successful playing career, winning the Champions League three times, the Africa Cup of Nations twice, as well as league titles in Spain and Italy and an Olympic gold medal. His administrative career has been less sparkling.

In 2019, the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker chose to become a special adviser to then Caf president Ahmad, but the Malagasy administrator was later banned from football for two years after being adjudged to have breached various Fifa ethics codes.

Three months after taking charge of Fecafoot in December 2021, Eto’o chose to replace coach Toni Conceicao, who guided Cameroon to a third-place finish on home soil at last year’s Nations Cup, with former team-mate Rigobert Song.

The appointment was unusual in that it was said to have been made on “very high instructions” from Cameroon president Paul Biya, despite Fifa outlawing any political interference in the running of a federation.

At last year’s World Cup, which Cameroon exited in the group stage, regular goalkeeper Andre Onana was dropped following a heated row with Song, who was understood to have Eto’o’s backing.

In a statement, Fecafoot expressed “its full support” for Song, who the body said was keen on “preserving discipline, solidarity, complementarity and cohesion with the national team”, prompting Onana – a reported target for Manchester United – to leave the Indomitable Lions’ camp mid-tournament.

In June last year, the 42-year-old pleaded guilty to a $3.8m (£2.96m) tax fraud relating to his image rights while playing for Barcelona.

“I admit the facts and I am going to pay what I’m due, but let it be known that I was just a child then and that I always did what my former agent, who I considered like a father, asked me to do at that time,” Eto’o said after the ruling.

Handed a suspended 22-month prison sentence, he was issued with a fine of $1.8m (£1.4m) which is said to have taken a toll on his financial health – with reports stating he is living in a hotel in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde at Fecafoot’s expense.

‘Fecafoot on the verge of bankruptcy’

ACFAC said it had further concerns regarding the “arbitrary exclusion” of various high-ranking Fecafoot members who “criticised the opaque and very personal management” of Eto’o while also questioning an ongoing lack of transparency in Fecafoot’s financial dealings.

Late last month, it was reported Cameroon would not be sending an under-20 side to a regional tournament in DR Congo because of a lack of funds.

“ACFAC’s executive members have reached the conclusion that Fecafoot is on the verge of bankruptcy on all levels and that it is imperative to act in a bid to save what still remains of Cameroonian football,” the statement said.

Source: BBC