September 5 – The Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot) has stepped in to oversee the domestic league for at least the next two years after the suspension of Cameroon’s Professional Football League (LPFC).
Fecafoot has set up an interim committee to manage the activities of the league which it suspended for alleged breaches of its own statutes.
That move sparked a fierce reaction from the LPFC president Pierre Semengue, who says he wants to complete his four-year mandate as president, rejecting a Fecafoot offer to become an honorary president of the governing body. “It is an indecent proposal, I have an elective mandate I intend to exercise till the end…I completely reject what has been said in particular about the league,” said Semengue. “Everything that has been done by Fecafoot is illegal.”
Fecafoot’s concern is that the league needs more sponsorship backing and that players receive a minimum wage. The league kick-off had already been moved from September to October.
Semengue says that he has taken the conflict to the arbitration chamber of Cameroon’s Olympic Committee and that he would consider going to CAS in Switzerland. “Clubs have continued registering with us for the next season and we’re going to continue working because whatever is going on now is a non-event for us,” said Semengue.
Fecafoot’s president Seidou Mbombo Njoya however said that improvement in the Cameroonian league is paramount. “We had to step in to save local football that is in a desolate state now” said Njoya in an interview to the BBC. “Our championship is far from being glamorous and the most glaring example is the poor performance of Cameroonian clubs in continental competitions.”
“Prior to every season there has to be a general assembly of the league (according to LPFC statutes) to assess the previous year but this hasn’t been held lately. Then there are the constant conflicts between league officials and club presidents. The league can’t account for state and Fecafoot money handed out to them and the two main sponsors of the domestic championships have left.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1714074338labto1714074338ofdlr1714074338owedi1714074338sni@n1714074338osloh1714074338cin.l1714074338uap1714074338