Mali national team coach Tom Saintfiet has publicly criticised Cameroon head coach Marc Brys for what he describes as a blatant lack of respect towards Samuel Eto’o, president of the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot), amid an increasingly tense standoff between the two men.
The dispute, which has drawn wide attention across African football, resurfaced during the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 draw in Morocco earlier this year.
Brys sparked renewed controversy when he declared in the mixed zone, unprompted, that he was “not afraid of Eto’o.”
The remark, made in the absence of any reference to the former striker by journalists, was swiftly condemned, including by French-Malian rapper Mokobé, who questioned how a national team coach could show such disregard for a football legend in his own country.
🔴 L’entraîneur belge Tom Saintfiet, actuel sélectionneur du Mali, au sujet du conflit entre Marc Brys et Samuel Eto’o :
« Quand le gouvernement et la fédération n’agréent pas, il y a un problème. Et malgré les égos, comme entraîneur, tu dois toujours respecter ton président.… pic.twitter.com/UwaMkp3x1z
— AllezLesLions (@AllezLesLions) April 11, 2025
“Are you going to disrespect an African legend like Eto’o who is your boss, the president of the Federation?” Mokobé asked. “How can a coach disrespect a legend in his own country like that?”
This latest episode adds fuel to a long-simmering feud between Eto’o and Brys, which dates back to their fiery first encounter on 28 May 2024.
That meeting ended in acrimony, with Eto’o ultimately removing the Belgian coach from his post—though the situation has since become even more complex.
“When the government and the federation don’t agree, there’s a problem,” said Saintfiet. “And despite egos, as a coach, you must always respect your president.
His discussion that we saw on television is not possible.
You can’t ask Samuel Eto’o in front of the cameras what he did as a coach, it’s crazy.
He’s the president of the federation, you have to respect him, he’s your leader.
He’s a great football man, respected by the majority of the people of Cameroon, who love him.
Meanwhile, concerns have grown that Brys is dragging the national team into his personal feud.
Former Cameroon international Samuel Lobé, now a football pundit with Canal+, accused the coach of using the squad to bolster his own position.
🔴 Samuel Lobe sur l’attitude de Marc Brys envers le président de la FECAFOOT Samuel Eto’o :
« Eto’o a des tonnes de défauts, tout comme moi, j’en ai certainement beaucoup aussi. Ce qui me gêne dans ce conflit, c’est qu’on ne laisse pas les joueurs en dehors de tout ça. Je n’ai… pic.twitter.com/CvvnW9h4oM
— AllezLesLions (@AllezLesLions) March 31, 2025
“Eto’o has tons of faults, just like me, I certainly have a lot of them too,” Lobé said. “What bothers me about this conflict is that the players are not being left out of it all. I didn’t like Marc Brys’s statement.
When he said: ‘We’re not afraid of Ivory Coast, we’re not afraid of Eto’o,’ who are the ‘we’? The players are not in conflict with Eto’o; he shouldn’t include them in his personal conflict. The players must stay out of this.”
As public scrutiny deepens, the feud continues to cast a shadow over Cameroonian football, raising pressing questions about leadership, unity, and respect at the highest levels of the game.
