The newly appointed president of the Cameroonian Football Federation and the leading figure for the Africa Cup of Nations, Samuel Eto'o, has faced a significant setback weeks before the tournament's start due to a financial scandal. A list of "debtors" published by the Spanish tax authorities on Monday, which was reviewed by AFP, revealed that the former Cameroonian international star Samuel Eto'o is indebted to them for nearly one million euros.
According to this list, Eto'o owes close to one million euros to the Spanish treasury for the years he spent with Barcelona between 2004 and 2009. In November, the Spanish Public Prosecutor's Office requested that Eto'o face penalties totaling up to ten years in prison and pay a fine of 18 million euros, accusing the former goal-scorer, elected president of his country’s football federation on December 11, of evading payment of 3.9 million euros in taxes related to image rights during his time at Barcelona.
This "debtors list" includes thousands of individuals and companies indebted to the Spanish tax authorities for amounts exceeding 600,000 euros. The damaging news comes at a particularly bad time, just two weeks before the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in Cameroon, where Eto'o is the new federation president and the main spokesperson for the tournament. This scandal adds to the myriad of problems plaguing the tournament before its start, including civil war, issues related to the Omicron variant in Africa, and its timing coinciding with the European football season.
