Samuel Eto’o says African football faces challenges Europe cannot understand

Samuel Eto’o has strongly defended FIFA president Gianni Infantino, saying African football must be allowed to pursue its own interests and ambitions despite the criticism surrounding the governing body’s proposed changes to the commercialisation of World Cup rights.

Infantino came under significant pressure after an unfinished project to sell stakes in the World Cup’s commercial rights to private investors led to growing tensions with UEFA.

But Eto’o, the former Barcelona striker and president of the Cameroonian Football Federation, told French newspaper L’Equipe that Infantino’s policies represented a genuine opportunity for African football to develop.

“We are already selling football. Who finances football? It is the companies that buy spaces for communication and advertising. And who owns these companies? Europe is also looking at its own interests under pressure from the clubs,” said Eto’o.

“Why are we judged when we too seek to protect our interests? Today, president Infantino gives Africans the chance to dream of developing football.”

Eto’o also credited Infantino with helping improve football infrastructure in Africa.

“He has contributed to the improvement of African football. You would not have seen this number of federation headquarters being built,” he said.

The former Cameroon captain said the dispute between UEFA and FIFA risked overlooking the very different circumstances facing football associations on the two continents.

“UEFA is an important federation for FIFA and contributes greatly to football, but it should not be considered the only federation or the most important one. This is a biased discussion,” Eto’o said.

“People do not realise the scale of the challenges faced by federation presidents in Africa. Do you think we can play football without governments? There are federations that depend 95 or even 100% on state money, while those states themselves face major challenges.”

Financial gap affects talent development

Eto’o said the severe financial differences between African and European associations directly affected the development of players and infrastructure.

“We can never have the same view of things. When you see some federations whose budgets do not exceed 150,000 euros, how can they compete with major countries?” he said.

“Nobody asks how some African federation presidents manage to organise football in their countries. Then, when there is an exodus of talent, they criticise us.”

He suggested Cameroon could have retained and developed more players if it had greater financial resources.

“If we had a budget of between 20 and 40 million dollars a year in Cameroon, we would certainly have Mbappe, Tchouameni and others. And we would organise our football better,” Eto’o said.

Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni both have Cameroonian heritage but chose to represent France internationally.

Eto’o insisted the conditions facing African associations made direct comparisons with their European counterparts unfair.

“How do you want me to think in the same way as the president of a European federation?” he said.

“There are young people who walk 20 kilometres simply because they dream of becoming footballers, because there is no pitch near their homes. How many pitches are there in Paris?”

He concluded by again backing Infantino’s initiatives and rejecting the idea that African football should limit its ambitions.

“Why should we Africans stop ourselves from dreaming, and from building our countries in this way? This goes through initiatives such as those of president Infantino.”