Cameroon football legend Geremi Njitap has been banned from all football-related activities for five years by the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), following a disciplinary dispute with the federation’s president, Samuel Eto’o.
He has also been fined $16,500.
The decision, announced this week, marks a dramatic escalation in tensions between two of the country’s most iconic former players, and has drawn widespread attention from football communities across Africa and beyond.
Geremi, 46, a former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder, is among Cameroon’s most celebrated footballers, having earned 118 caps — the joint-second highest in national history.
He was part of Cameroon’s 2008 AFCON team that reached the final in Ghana.
Njitap was also a member of Chelsea’s Premier League-winning squads in 2005 and 2006.
In 2017, Geremi said in an interview with Muftawu Nabila Abdulai that, “…I am a bit fed up with football so I don’t follow football anymore.”
He, however, transitioned into football administration, serving as the president of the National Union of Footballers of Cameroon (Synafoc), an organisation representing players’ rights.
His relationship with Eto’o, now head of FECAFOOT, deteriorated sharply which led to an altercation between the two per local media reports.
The fallout dates back to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire, during a tense group-stage match between Cameroon and The Gambia.
Geremi was reportedly involved in a heated altercation with a member of Eto’o’s inner circle. Security had to intervene, with reports from Yaoundé claiming he was forcibly removed from the stadium at the instruction of federation officials.
In a formal statement released by FECAFOOT’s ethics committee, Geremi was declared guilty of “violating the behavioural code outlined in the federation’s ethics regulations.” As a result, he has been banned from all football activities for five years and fined 10 million Central African CFA francs (approx. $16,500).
He has been given 10 days to lodge an official appeal. Sources close to the former midfielder indicate he is considering taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.
Daniel Blaise Ngos, Geremi’s assistant at Synafoc, was also penalised, receiving a two-year ban and a fine of $8,250.
Critics claim it’s move to end Njitap’s presidential ambitions as he’s believed to be nursing his way to ascending the throne of football leadership in the country.
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