Marc Brys will remain as head coach of the Cameroon men’s team — despite Fecafoot (the country’s football federation) appearing to appoint an interim replacement earlier this week following a clash with president Samuel Eto’o.
Video footage had emerged of Eto’o and Brys appearing to have a heated exchange earlier this week. Fecafoot then said in a statement that the decision to replace Brys had been taken following an emergency meeting on Tuesday, convened by Eto’o due to the “inappropriate behaviour” of Brys and his assistants.
The federation announced that Martin Ndtoungou had taken over the Cameroon team on an interim basis and was to hold a press conference on Thursday to reveal his squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde and Angola.
But, following what it called a “fruitful and convivial meeting”, Fecafoot clarified the status of the team in a further statement on Thursday. It confirmed that Brys was to remain as head coach, with Joachim Mununga as his assistant.
Eto’o then apologised to Brys in a press conference the pair held, stating that there were a “lot of emotions” in their previous “unfortunate” encounter.
“I will begin by apologising to you because during our first unfortunate meeting, there were a lot of emotions,” Eto’o said. “I prefer to say it like that. But as you know, you (people) are more important than us, the Cameroonian people are more important than us, it is the sole interest which motivates us to work.
“I am rather happy to have spoken with the coach and as I said to the coach we have convictions, we won’t change that, we have for two years to try to get the best national team.
“I think that for some among us, the administrative side posed us problems in this era. We had results, we had more problems.
“I think that the coach who has just come into an environment where there will need to be an administrative side that is very professional, he is therefore important for us to maintain the standards for Cameroon. I thank you one more time and apologise for the last time.”
Eto’o was elected as Fecafoot president in 2021 but his reign has been far from smooth (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)
Brys’ arrival last month caused friction between Fecafoot and Cameroon’s ministry of sport, with the federation expressing its “great astonishment” over the 61-year-old’s appointment, which it said had been made “unilaterally” by the ministry.
The confusion surrounding Brys’ employment status began earlier this week when Fecafoot said that the 61-year-old and Eto’o were due to have a meeting regarding the preparation for next month’s World Cup qualifiers. But the meeting did not take place, due to what Fecafoot labelled “unacceptable behaviour”, particularly from a technical advisor from the country’s ministry of sport. Fecafoot claimed the individual told Brys and his assistants to not attend the meeting after Eto’o did not communicate its agenda to them.
Fecafoot said Brys “launched into a series of insults and verbal abuse” at Eto’o during their exchange and made “disrespectful comments” towards the former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker.
Fecafoot added, in its statement announcing Brys had been replaced, that it believed the Belgian had also violated its procedures, refused to communicate training schedules and had an “outright refusal to collaborate”.
(Tom Goyvaerts/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)
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