Samuel Eto’o has been fined by Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) after an investigation into alleged violation of the principles of ethics and integrity. He was cleared of manipulating football matches.
In August, CAF said it was looking into “serious” claims of “improper conduct” made by various Cameroonian football stakeholders against the 43-year-old president of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT).
The CAF determined that there was not enough evidence to prove the majority of charges. However, they did find Eto’o guilty of “violating the principles of ethics, integrity, and sportsmanship as provided in the CAF Statutes” after he became an ambassador for gambling company 1XBet.
A statement from CAF read: “The Confederation Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Disciplinary Board sat on the matter of Federation Camerounaise de Football President Mr Samuel Eto’o Fils.
“Mr Eto’o was facing charges of alleged manipulation of football matches and violating the principles of ethics and integrity.
“The Disciplinary Board ruled that as it stands, there is insufficient proof to find Mr Samuel Eto’o Fils and Mr Valentine Nkwain (president of Victoria United) guilty of match manipulation.
“However, the Disciplinary Board found Mr Eto’o to have seriously violated the principles of ethics, integrity, and sportsmanship as provided in Article 2 paragraph 3 of the CAF Statutes by signing a Brand Ambassador contract with the company 1XBET in exchange for remuneration and consequently fined Mr. Eto’o an amount of $200,000.”
The Athletic reported in January that it had seen WhatsApp messages, emails, letters and audio recordings that a former Fecafoot executive claims are of Eto’o and others, which the former executive says support a wide-ranging list of accusations, including that Eto’o and close aides were involved in match-fixing, abuse of power, physical threats, inciting violence and spreading false information in Cameroon.
The file was sent to FIFA’s Ethics Committee in July by former Fecafoot vice-president Henry Njalla Quan Junior and was investigated by CAF. Eto’o’s lawyers, Vey & Associes — and Eto’o himself — were contacted by The Athletic for comment but didn’t respond. They have previously denied the claims, calling them “calumnious rumours”.
This is not the first time Eto’o, who became president of FECAFOOT in December 2021, has faced regulatory issues. He was given a 22-month suspended prison sentence and fined £1.4million ($1.7m) in June 2022 after pleading guilty to a charge of tax fraud linked to his image rights when he played in Spain.
In May 2023, he announced that he was “proud” to become an ambassador for gambling company 1XBet, despite football’s world governing body FIFA’s ethics code forbidding “officials” from participating “either directly or indirectly” in betting or having any such association, with a maximum punishment of a three-year ban from football.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)
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