David GOMBE
Four-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o has on Wednesday been elected on CAF’s decision-making executive committee at the CAF extraordinary general assembly held in Cairo, Egypt.
Eto’o is the president of the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot), was elected unopposed as he was the only candidate from the central Africa region.
Last week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by Eto’o who won the right to be included on the list of candidates after initially being ruled out of the contest by Caf’s governance committee in January.
The former Cameroon striker was suspended last year by both Fifa and CAF for violating disciplinary regulations.
CAF had banned him after an inquiry into purported breaches of its ethical and integrity standards when he took up a role as ambassador for a betting company.
The ban and a $200,000 fine were later lifted on appeal.
Eto’o was announced along with the five other elected members on CAF’s executive committee.
The former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker has been in charge of Fecafoot since December 2021 but has seen his tenure surrounded by controversy.
Last September he received a six-match ban from attending Cameroon games while one former international team-mate described him as a “dictator” for his handling of the appointment of Indomitable Lions head coach Marc Brys.
During his playing time, Eto’o helped Cameroon win the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games football tournament and was part of the 2000 and 2002 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon)-winning teams.
Eto’o featured at four World Cup and six Afcon tournaments and scored a record 18 goals in the African biggest football tournament.
