The Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) has suspended 62 domestic league players for inconsistencies regarding their identities, including a player who was selected for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) earlier this year.
Fecafoot published a list of player registrations for the Cameroonian first division play-offs on Monday and detailed that 62 players would be ineligible. Of those, 52 players, from 15 clubs, were suspended under the charge ‘double identity’.
This included Victoria United player Wilfried Nathan Douala, who was a surprise call-up by Rigobert Song for Cameroon’s AFCON campaign. Douala, officially listed as 17 years of age for the tournament, was the youngest player called up for AFCON but had faced scepticism about his age and identity following an investigation by French newspaper Le Monde. They claimed he had previously played in the Cameroon league under the name Alexandre Bardelli, and was at least 23 years of age. Douala did not make an appearance at AFCON. Le Monde reported that they had requested an explanation from Fecafoot, but they had declined to comment.
In a public statement on social media site X, formerly Twitter, Victoria United said: “Two of our players in the person of Wilfried Nathan Douala and Nji Richmond were unfortunately outlined to have ‘double identification’.
“We wish to bring to the notice of the general public that, Wilfried Nathan Douala and Nji Richmond do not have double identities, as speculated by the Cameroon Football Federation, Fecafoot.
“We believe this might be an error from the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot). As a result, a justification period was given by Fecafoot to clarify cases of error.
“We call on our supporters to remain calm because we have submitted the necessary supporting documents to Fecafoot to overcome this problem because they are not guilty of the acts with which they are accused.”
At a press conference on Tuesday, the general secretary of Fecafoot, Blaise Djounang, said that this is a “provisional situation,” adding that “there are requests in progress which could change the situation”.
The latest developments take place amid a separate investigation by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), into Fecafoot president Samuel Eto’o regarding wide-ranging accusations, including that he and close aides were involved in match-fixing, abuse of power, physical threats, inciting violence and spreading false information in Cameroon. Eto’o has previously denied those claims.
CAF and Fecafoot have been contacted for comment.
(Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
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