Samuel Eto’o Under Pressure Over €567,570 Russia Friendly Payment

Posted : 11 September 2026

Cameroon Football Association president Samuel Eto’o is facing fresh scrutiny over €567,570 linked to the national team's friendly against Russia in Moscow in October 2023.

The controversy follows a report by The Times, which said it reviewed invoices and contracts showing two payments of €455,056 and €112,514. The documents reportedly instructed the Russian Football Union to send the money to an account held by Eto’o at Qatar National Bank in Doha.

The payments have raised questions about how federation funds were handled under Eto’o, who has led FECAFOOT since December 2021.

Former FECAFOOT executive committee member Guibai Gatama told The Times that he was not aware of banking or accounting evidence showing the money was later transferred to an official federation account or recorded in FECAFOOT's books. Former officials have reportedly raised the matter with FIFA's ethics committee, although they say they have not received an update.

The central issue is therefore not simply that the payment went to an account bearing Eto’o's name. Questions remain over why a personal account was used, whether the arrangement was authorised and whether the full amount was ultimately transferred to FECAFOOT and properly accounted for.

The Cameroon-Russia friendly was played in Moscow on October 12, 2023. Russia won the match 1-0, with Aleksandr Sobolev scoring the only goal from the penalty spot. The payment under scrutiny was reportedly connected to the financial arrangements for the fixture.

Eto’o and FECAFOOT had not responded to The Times when the report was published. As a result, the allegations have not been independently established as financial misconduct, and there is currently no judicial finding that Eto’o stole or misappropriated the money.

The controversy has also renewed attention on Eto’o's relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Eto’o was recently identified in US court filings as a supporter of the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, which involved plans to bring private investment into FIFA's commercial interests.

The proposal was abandoned by Infantino on August 1 after strong opposition from UEFA and other football stakeholders. Reuters reported on September 11 that UEFA is continuing efforts in a US court to obtain documents connected to the abandoned transaction and is considering a Swiss criminal complaint over alleged mismanagement, although no formal charges have been filed.

Eto’o has also faced previous disciplinary action during his time as FECAFOOT president. In July 2024, CAF fined him $200,000 for breaching its ethics, integrity and sportsmanship principles over a paid betting-company ambassadorial agreement, while finding insufficient evidence to establish match manipulation. His lawyers later said the ruling was quashed on appeal.

In January 2026, CAF imposed another sanction on Eto’o. He received a four-match ban and a $20,000 fine for misconduct during Cameroon's 2-0 AFCON quarter-final defeat by Morocco, with FECAFOOT rejecting the decision and indicating that it would appeal.

The latest Russia payment controversy therefore adds another governance challenge to Eto’o's tenure. The immediate questions are whether the personal-account arrangement was authorised, where the €567,570 ultimately went and whether the transaction appears in FECAFOOT's financial records.

Samuel Eto’o Under Pressure Over €567,570 Russia Friendly Payment

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