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African football’s governing body has fined Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), $200,000 for an ethics breach, but found insufficient evidence to pursue a charge related to allegations of match-fixing.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) opened an investigation into Eto’o’s conduct in August last year after receiving “written statements from several Cameroonian football stakeholders”.
A disciplinary panel found that the four-time African Footballer of the Year had “seriously violated the principles of ethics, integrity and sportsmanship” of Caf by signing a contract to be an ambassador for betting company 1XBET.
Eto’o’s lawyers have said they will appeal against the verdict.
1XBET sponsors the top two divisions of men’s professional football in Cameroon and both the men’s and women’s international sides, while the regulations of Fifa, football’s global governing body, state that people bound by its code are not allowed any involvement in betting related to football.
Last July, a group representing amateur clubs in Cameroon called on Eto’o to resign, highlighting their concern over the 43-year-old’s relationship with 1XBET and citing “grave irregularities” at Fecafoot.
Match-fixing allegations
While Eto’o has been found guilty of breaching Caf statutes when it comes to ethics, he has escaped a sanction related to match-fixing, with the disciplinary panel ruling that “as it stands, there is insufficient proof”.
The former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker was being investigated alongside Valentine Nkwain, president of newly promoted club side Victoria United, following a leaked phone conversation said to be of the pair discussing Victoria’s return to the top flight before promotion had been guaranteed.
Both have previously denied involvement in any conspiracy to manipulate results.
The latest judgement by Caf is unlikely to quell dissent in Cameroon related to Eto’o’s running of football in the country.
Earlier this week a group of administrators, including former members of Fecafoot and the president of the country’s Professional Football League, wrote an open letter to Caf president Patrice Motsepe and Fifa boss Gianni Infantino, urging them to speed up their investigations and pointing out that possible sanctions included a lifetime ban.
The letter said “many stakeholders who have been in the game for several decades are leaving because of the abuses that have taken place over the past two years.”