Marc Brys Takes Legal Action After Being Barred from Coaching Cameroon Team at AFCON

Rabat—When the Cameroon squad left for Morocco to play at the AFCON 2025 they got on the plane without one very important member—their head coach.

Marc Brys, the Belgian coach who was appointed by the Ministry of Sports in spring 2024, was barred from joining his team and replaced temporarily by his assistant David Pagou to oversee the squad on the ground.

The reason? A call made by Samuel Eto’o, President of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fécafoot), who had never accepted Brys’ appointment by the Ministry of Sports.

Now, Brys is taking legal action, calling the situation “amateur” and “illegal” and accusing football authorities of acting outside the law.

“I have hired a lawyer. The contract is clear,” Brys told Belgian outlet Sporza, confirming that the dispute has now moved into the legal arena.

Brys recalled that he was completely blindsided. Just days before AFCON started, the Belgian coach was informed that he should not travel to Morocco, and that was done without any official communication.

“I was not personally informed by Fécafoot, nor by the ministry. I blame them as well. There was never any communication,” Brys said.

He added that repeated requests for travel tickets were ignored.

“We asked for our tickets to Morocco and there was never any response. In the end, someone said they should not give us the tickets because he (Eto’o) had said it was not allowed.”

Brys described the situation as an intentional show of force.“We had qualified, and a few days before the final round there was an act of opportunism. Someone wanted to show that he is the strongest.”

Christian Kofane hit the Cristiano Ronaldo siu celebration after scoring the winning goal to send Cameroon to the AFCON quarter-finals 🔥🇨🇲 pic.twitter.com/difQ9xQKby
— OneFootball (@OneFootball) January 4, 2026

‘Illegal and against all logic’

Brys was very clear in his negative assessment of how the situation was handled, using strong terms repeatedly to criticize the decision-making process.

“The way this happened is illegal and goes against all logic. You don’t find this anywhere else in the football world,” he said. “Two days before, you suddenly throw everything upside down. The facts themselves are simply illegal.”

According to Brys, Fécafoot acted outside its authority. “The federation is not allowed to fire me, even though they tried several times. Only the president or the ministry can do that, because they appointed us.”

Despite being sidelined, Brys insists he remains Cameroon’s head coach in legal terms “…because they didn’t fire me.”

The 63-year-old manager admitted he has not watched Cameroon’s matches in Morocco at the AFCON, including the recent win over South Africa. “If you are unjustly excluded, you no longer feel the desire to analyze those matches. That’s for the staff who are there.”

Still, he says he remains in occasional contact with players and wishes the team success. “They [the team] are happy with the results and they regret that we are not there with the staff.”

Brys says Eto’o has a ‘weird relationship’ with Infantino

Brys also questioned FIFA’s silence, directly referencing the relationship between Samuel Eto’o and FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “Gianni Infantino must act as president of FIFA, but he has a weird relationship with Eto’o.”

He dismissed the idea that the situation is a simple personal rivalry. “Is it him or me? No, I still have to laugh. Eto’o is carried by everyone.”

Brys admits he doesn’t see much of a future under the current conditions, but he’s refusing to quit. He insists he’s making this stand on principle, not just because he’s upset.

“You must not let your emotions guide you too much,” he said. But his conclusion is blunt.“What they are doing is trivial. It’s very amateur. This cannot happen at this level. You cannot tolerate this.”

Now that legal action has started, the fight between Marc Brys, Fécafoot, and the Cameroonian government looks like it’s just getting started.