Former Cameroon national team manager António Conceição won a judgment from FIFA this week after taking the Cameroonian Football Federation (FECAFOOT) to the FIFA Football Tribunal over an unfair termination of his contract. Conceição was dismissed after the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations when hosts Cameroon finished in third place and it appeared that the newly elected FECAFOOT president at the time, Samuel Eto’o, did not favor a manager appointed by his predecessors.
While Conceição’s contract indicated he failed to live up to one of the two demands with regards to making it to the final of the AFCON, the Portuguese manager was dismissed before having an opportunity to complete the second contractual demand of qualifying Cameroon for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. FECAFOOT did not contest the charges strongly, failing to submit documents to the FIFA tribunal, which may have played a role in Conceição winning the case and a judgment that is set to award him €1.5 million. Along with the Conceição case, FECAFOOT and Eto’o are also facing a potential penalty for breaching their contract with Cameroon national team equipment supplier Le Coq Sportif.
