Newly re-elected CAF President Patrice Motsepe has called for a fresh start for Samuel Eto’o, who recently secured a seat on the CAF Executive Committee despite his controversial past.
Eto’o, who has served as president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (FECAFOOT) since 2021, has faced disciplinary action in recent years. His troubles include a ban from FIFA and CAF after a viral video from the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar showed him assaulting a fan.
As a result of the incident, FIFA barred him from attending international matches involving Cameroon for six months, initially making him ineligible to run for the CAF Executive Committee. However, Eto’o successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which lifted the ban just days before the election, allowing him to secure the position unopposed.
Following his election as the sole representative from the Central African Football Federations Union (UNIFFAC), Motsepe urged the football community to support Eto’o and move forward.
“The CAF executive committee made a decision about Samuel Eto’o that was overturned by CAS. He has now been elected as one of the leaders of African football, and the most important thing is that we must support him,” Motsepe stated, as quoted by Citizen Digital.
Motsepe, who is embarking on his second four-year term as CAF president, insisted that past incidents should not overshadow Eto’o’s leadership.
“Everyone at CAF must ensure that incidents involving Eto’o in the past must remain in the past. Nothing that occurred previously should now be held against him. I believe he has an important contribution to make. Cameroon, under the leadership of Samuel, will return to its glory days.”
With Eto’o now part of CAF’s top decision-making body, focus shifts to whether he can navigate his new role while working to restore Cameroon’s footballing reputation.