Samuel Eto’o Accused of Dropping Star Man from AFCON 2025 Squad, the Reason Being….

Samuel Eto'o has been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Cameroonian legend & now CFF president has been accused of leaving a player out of the squad to ensure his own playing career record intact. This has caused a wave of protests in the nation's footballing fraternity as people believe that the former player is insecure & doesn't want anyone to reach near the international goalscoring record set by him.

According to several outlets, Samuel Eto'o is behind the decision to exclude Vincent Aboubakar from Cameroon's final squad for the 2025 AFCON, as the latter is just 11 goals away from equalling the former's tally. This decision from the head of the Cameroonian Football Association has received a lot of criticism lately. Eto has been accused of putting his own interests ahead of the welfare of his national team.

Samuel Eto'o Accused of Abusing His Authority

Samuel Eto'o currently holds the record of most goals scored for the Cameroon national football team, with 56 goals in 118 games. Meanwhile, Vincent Aboubakar has 45 goals in 117 games and just needs 11 more to break the record of one of the greatest African footballers. According to reports, it was Samuel Eto'o who took this decision on his own, after being re-elected unopposed as the head of the nation's football federation.

This Samuel Eto controversy once again proves that, irrespective of your status, sometimes you need to set your ego & politics aside to let the upcoming generations take the lead. His untimely firing of Marc Brys from the position of the coach of the team has also raised eyebrows.

Samuel Eto'o appointed David Pagou as the interim manager in a rather hasty manner. He was also allegedly behind Andre Onana's exclusion from the Cameroon AFCON 2025 squad, as per several reports. People believe that the exclusion of Onana from the team stems from the fact that his relationship with Eto'o had been quite bitter in the past. However, people are certain that Aboubakar was not included in the team due to his increasing number of goals. It remains to be seen how far this Samuel Eto vs Aboubakar controversy goes and how badly it affects Cameroon's preparation for the AFCON.