April 17 – Cameroon FA boss Samuel Eto’o, a four-time African footballer of the year, has accused the Confederation of African Football’s general secretary of several breaches of FIFA’s code of ethics during an investigation into allegations that he was involved in match-fixing.
The Guardian newspaper reports that Eto’o’s lawyers have lodged a complaint with FIFA alleging that Véron Mosengo-Omba opened an ethiocs investigation into Eto’o to create “negative publicity” about the former Barcelona striker, who has run the Cameroon FA (Fecafoot) since December 2021.
Eto’o (pictured) was one of the greatest forwards of his generation after enjoying a stellar career, notably five successful seasons at Barca scoring 130 goals in 199 games. He continued to score goals after leaving for Inter Milan in the summer of 2009 and also played for Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Everton before retiring in 2019.
In August last year CAF opened an investigation after it said it had “received written statements from several Cameroonian football stakeholders to look into and investigate certain alleged improper conduct by Mr Samuel Eto’o”.
But Eto’o’s lawyers complain that Mosengo-Omba was instrumental in initiating a media campaign against the former striker and accused Mosengo-Omba of breaking various parts of FIFA’s ethics code including defamation, an “attack on physical and moral integrity” and abuse of power, as well as a violation rules of general conduct and the duty of confidentiality.
“We have been able to identify some of the individuals who contributed to this situation, in particular the secretary-general,” Eto’o’s lawyer, Antoine Vey, told the Guardian. “It’s him we are mentioning in our complaint.
“We believe that this investigation is based on nothing and it was only opened to create some negative publicity about Mr Eto’o,” Vey added.
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