It’s a rather standard practice for very successful athletes of the past to receive a political position as a derivation of their name. The one and only Pelé, served as Minister of Sports. George Weah is the current president of his country, Liberia. Samuel Eto’o has been serving as the president of the Cameroon Football Association since 2021 and he is the center of a turmoil. Not for one but for two alleged infractions. Is it another case of «absolute power corrupts absolutely», or do we have other ulterior motives here? Whatever the answer, it is yet another piece of bad news for the online sports betting industry as the premise of fairness is compromised once again.
The first infraction
The president of the Professional League of Cameroon Pierre Semengue and a group of other officials criticized Gianni Infantino and Patrice Motrepe, presidents of FIFA and CAF respectively for allowing Eto’o to «illegally impose himself on the FECAFOOT presidency» after a number of incidents, including the violent altercation with Said Mamouni. Video footage shows Eto’o hitting Mamouni with his knee. In fact, the Cameroonian acknowledged the mishap and apologized for losing his temper.
However, it is the reason for the incident that now sparks new questions to be asked. The Algerian, according to his own statement, asked Eto’o if he had bribed the referee of the qualifier between Cameroon and Algeria. For the record, the match ended 2-1 in favor of the Lions and the Algerian Federation filed a replay demand, due to the mistakes of the officiating Bakary Gassama from Ghana. FIFA supposedly looked into the matter and dismissed the demand. Now, it’s a subject of consideration, whether said investigation was conducted properly.
The second case
The Cameroonian police is handling this one and they have confirmed that they have received a recording that allegedly contains a discussion between Samuel Eto’o and the president of the club Victoria United, Valentine Nkwain. In it, the first one appears to be assuring the second that they would give his club the three points and suspend the referee, of a match where his team lost by 1-0. In addition to the recording, there is a statement that Eto’o made to Gazzetta dello Sport, about «talking to a friend that wants to make his club one of the best in Cameroon and just assuring him that he would do everything possible to avoid any refereeing errors against him».
Both parties accused have denied any wrong doing. In fact, Nkwain has claimed that the voice in the recording is not his and has proceeded into filing a law suit against all parties involved in the fabrication of the sound reference. Even if this is the case, the burning question is, if the other side is indeed Eto’o and he admits to getting involved with the referees, then it’s time to remember what happened with Sam Allardyce and the prank call by a reporter that forced him to resign the position of manager for the English national team.
The charge that the authorities in the country are investigating, does not only refer to fixing matches. It’s a wider «abuse of authority and corruption» case, that will also include other accusations. Supposedly, witnesses have already been interviewed and the scandal, if confirmed, will bring more than 40 people to court.
It’s getting harder and harder
Both written and unwritten rules of any office say that the holder must uphold the highest levels of ethics. The increasing number of incidents of corruption seem to indicate that it’s not just difficult. The temptations of using all that power for personal power exert a special kind of attraction that looks irresistible. And more and more people get entangled to the net.
The curious thing is that no one seems to balance the consequences after the crime has been discovered. The good thing is that when they are, the punishment that follows is an assurance for bettors that when they register for an account at the best betting platform, the case of the results being tampered with is minimal.
