CAIRO —Samuel Eto’o, the former Cameroonian football star and current president of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), has been elected unopposed to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee. This election occurred during CAF’s extraordinary general assembly held in Cairo on March 12, 2025.
Eto’o’s path to the executive committee was not without challenges. Initially, CAF’s governance committee had declared him ineligible in January 2025, citing prior disciplinary actions. These included a six-month ban imposed by FIFA in September 2024 for violating disciplinary regulations, specifically for allegedly verbally abusing match officials during the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia. Additionally, CAF had previously banned Eto’o after an inquiry into purported breaches of its ethical and integrity standards when he took up a role as ambassador for a betting company, though this ban and a $200,000 fine were later lifted on appeal. Eto’o successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which overturned CAF’s decision, reinstating his eligibility just days before the election.
In the same assembly, Patrice Motsepe was re-elected unopposed for a second four-year term as CAF president. Motsepe, a South African mining magnate and owner of Mamelodi Sundowns FC, first assumed the presidency in 2021. His leadership has been credited with efforts to improve governance and financial stability within the organization.
The assembly also saw the unopposed election of five other officials to the executive committee: Mustapha Ishola Raji of Liberia, Bestine Kazadi Ditabala from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Wallace Karia of Tanzania, Kurt Simeon-Okraku of Ghana, and Sadi Walid of Algeria.
