Cameroon’s national team has a new coach. Rigobert Song has been appointed to lead the national as the new coach.

Despite disagreement between the FECAFOOT President and the Minister of Sports, an agreement has been reached and Song will be taking over from the former Portuguese coach António Conceição who has been thanked for his services to the national team.

The government is now focused on using its citizens in certain key positions. The era of European coaches appears to be over in Africa.

More details will be yours.

By Ewang Miriam Metchane

Anthony Elanga has impressed for Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United sop far this season, and the youngster could represent three different nations at international level with Cameroon keen on him

Manchester United’s young starlet Anthony Elanga has been approached to switch nationalities as his stock continues to rise at the Red Devils.

Elanga was born in Sweden to Cameroonian parents, but he moved to England at 12-years-old, making him eligible for all three.

However, the youngster has represented Sweden, the country of his birth, at youth level – and Sweden are confident he will represent them.

But after being called up by the first team, Elanga failed to make an appearance after Untied blocked the call-up.

And Cameroon are now attempting to swoop in to secure the services of the youngster.

According to Footazimuts, Cameroon are trying to tempt the youngster into representing the African side on the international stage.

Elanga’s father, Joseph Elanga, represented the Indomitable Lions between 1998 and 2002, earning himself 17 caps.

He was even part of Cameroon’s side for the 1998 World Cup which was held in France.

However, the report also claims that Elanga’s mother and agent aren’t sold on the side and the talks are ‘complicated’.

Source: Daily Star

The 27th edition of Mount Cameroon Race, Africa’s oldest international athletic competition, kicked off early Saturday in Buea, chief town of Southwest, one of the two English-speaking regions of the country torn by an armed conflict.

Close to 500 athletes from 11 African and European countries and regions are taking part in the race.

The race is taking place under tight security amidst threats from armed separatists to disrupt the event.

Since November 2017, government forces have been clashing with armed separatist forces who want the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest to secede from the largely French-speaking nation and form a new country they called “Ambazonia”.

Officials said in spite of the prevailing situation, the race must take place to strengthen Cameroon’s unity and integrity.

“This year’s edition is particularly good. The turnout is impressive which is clear proof of our determination to live together in peace and unity,” Cameroon’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education Narcisse Mouelle Kombi told reporters at the start of the competition.

All security measures have been put in place for the successful unfolding of the race, the region’s governor Bernard Okalia Bilai said.

The race, dubbed Race of Hope, is of a particularly difficult terrain with athletes going up and down the mountain which is over 4,100 meters above sea level.

Source: Xinhuanet

Families of eight people who died in the January football stampede at Yaounde’s 60,000-seat Olembe stadium say they are burying their dead without assistance from Cameroon’s government or the Confederation of African Football. The stampede, which also injured 38, occurred ahead of an Africa Football Cup of Nations match between Cameroon and Comoros Island.

A Roman Catholic Church choral group sang on Friday at a viewing ceremony at Mbalmayo, a commercial town about 50 kilometers to the south of Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.

Several hundred people, including teachers, students and merchants came to pay their last respects to Veronique Djilo, a teacher and one of those killed as crowds struggled to get into the stadium to watch the Cameroon national team play against Comoros Island on January 24.

Among the mourners was Etienne Modji, Djilo’s older brother. Modji said it was not easy for him to buy a casket and transport his sister’s body to Bandjoun, a western commercial town where Djilo was born. He said he has not been able to buy enough food for the hundreds of people coming to pay their last respect to Djilo.

Modji said he has not seen the money Cameroon state radio said Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions football team contributed for the injured and families of those killed in the Olembe stadium crush. Modji said his relatives and well-wishers donated money to help his family prepare for his sister’s burial.

Veronique Djilo was a person living with disabilities. She had no lower limbs and was teaching in Mbalmayo.

Emmanuelle Tchotchom, executive president of the nongovernmental organization Inclusive Society for Persons Living with Disabilities said at least 60 people with disabilities traveled to Mbalmayo, ready to accompany Djilo’s body to Bandjoun for burial. Tchotchom said the government did not transport neither Djilo’s body nor the people with disabilities accompanying the casket to Bandjoun, as her association had requested.

Tchotchom said only 12 of the 60 people who wanted to make the trip could afford the fares to and from Bandjoun, where Djilo was buried Saturday.

Three other crush victims have been buried in Yaoundé. Their families also say they did not receive any assistance from the government or the Confederation of African Football, CAF, which organized the tournament.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe visited injured victims at the hospital on January 25 and said it was the duty of host nations to take care of the security and safety of football players, fans and match officials. Motsepe said it is the host country that takes care of injured persons and families of the bereaved.

Cameroon’s team said it donated $85,000 to injured victims of the stampede and family members of those who died.

The injured victims and family members of the dead said they do not know where the money is.

Sports and Physical Education Minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi would not comment this week when asked about the promised assistance to crush victims. He said, though, the injured were treated free of charge as instructed by Cameroonian President Paul Biya.

Cameroon Football Federation officials did not answer reporters’ questions on the whereabouts of the money the Indomitable Lions said they donated.

Source: VOA

The President of the Francophone dominated Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), Samuel Eto’o travelled recently to Limbe in Southern Cameroons and staged the beautiful game’s support for the one and indivisible Cameroon policy. The Limbe meeting ended its deliberations with the appointment of new members in the executive committee of FECAFOOT. Not even a single English-speaking Cameroonian was appointed to the executive committee.

Federalists such as Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr Joachim Arrey of the Global Think Tank for Africa have already registered their utter disagreement and disappointment with the Eto’o decision. But the French Cameroun football legend is now focused on important Francophone FECAFOOT issues-the most urgent being who to replace the Portuguese António Conceição as head coach of the Indomitable Lions.

We gathered that the new FECAFOOT boss has already made public his intention of appointing Rigobert Song and the decision could be officially announced on Wednesday 23 February 2022. Will Rigobert Song Bahanag be the new coach of the Indomitable Lions?

There is one small thing. Small but great and it is the involvement of Sports Minister Hon. Narcisse Mouelle Kombi.  Minister Narcisse extended the Portuguese António Conceição’s contract last September and on February 13, 2022 a week after the end of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Minister announced his intention to keep the Portuguese technician for the qualification to the FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Qatar in November and December.

Stupid Francophones

On February 14, Samuel Eto’o addressed a letter to the Minister of Sports. In the letter, the FECAFOOT President raised a finger against Minister Narcisse Kombi’s involvement in the affairs of the Cameroon Football Federation.  Samuel Eto’o reminded the minister that according to the texts in force, the administrative, sporting and technical management of all national soccer teams is the responsibility of the Cameroon Football Federation. Eto’o cautioned the Biya acolyte to desist from commenting publicly on maintenance or termination of the contract of the Indomitable Lions head coach.

Interestingly, there was a president at the head of the Cameroon Football Federation before Samuel Eto’o took office! So, how come that it was Minister Narcisse who awarded the Portuguese technician a contract in 2019 at the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel?

Supported in his approach by the executive committee of the federation, which met on February 16 in Limbe, in Southern Cameroons, Eto’o is now planning to appoint Rigobert Song as head coach with the immediate objective of qualifying the Indomitable Lions for the 2022 World Cup.

Eto’o and Song: strange bed fellows?

Rigobert Song Bahanag, now 45 years old, has written some of the most memorable pages in the history of Cameroonian soccer. To be sure, Rigobert Song is the record holder of 137 caps for the national team and has played in four World Cups and eight Africa Cup of Nations. Twice, he was part of the team that brought the cup back to Yaoundé (2000 and 2002).

Song also played for Salernitana (Italy), Liverpool, West Ham (England), Cologne (Germany), Galatasaray and Trabzonspor (Turkey). He ended his career in 2010.

He then became a coach and a member of the executive body within FECAFOOT. A stroke in 2016 forced him to take a break off football matters, but he was able to resume his activities two years later.

During the time when both men wore the colors of Cameroon, Rigobert Song and Samuel Eto’o sometimes had a tense relationship. The former lost his captaincy to the latter in 2009.

Since then, the two former internationals have buried the hatchet. Last August, Rigobert Song publicly supported Samuel Eto’o in his campaign to win the presidency of the Cameroon Football Federation.

Minister Narcisse is reportedly holding meetings in Yaoundé and CPDM commentators are already painting Eto’o as a destructive element.

For his part, Eto’o is fighting the leadership of CAF, FIFA and now- a baron of the CPDM crime syndicate.

By Isong Asu