By Boris Esono Nwenfor
Cameroon Football Federation, (FECAFOOT), President Samuel Eto’o has buried any doubts as to which company will supply the national team’s attire for the upcoming FIFA Qatar World Cup.
Speaking on November 5 in Douala to make public the official attire of the Indomitable Lions by an American company, One All Sports, Samuel Eto’o, former captain of the Indomitable Lions said: “I hope the new jerseys will bring a lot of luck to the Indomitable Lions. We will be playing in these One All Sports jerseys in Qatar.”
One All Sports, the new equipment manufacturer of the Indomitable Lions, released three sets of jerseys which the national team will wear during the FIFA Qatar World Cup. Interestingly, One All Sports has opted to abandon the yellow jersey, a colour that football fans say is synonymous with “bad luck.”
Recall, however, that FECAFOOT is still log in a legal battle with former equipment supplier Le Coq Sportif. In a decision aired on November 3, 2022, the Paris Court “ordered the maintenance of the contractual relationship between Le Coq Sportif International and the Cameroonian Football Federation as per the contract concluded on January 10, 2020, with the contract length to extend until December 31, 2023.” A decision which also carries the sanction of 3000 euros, which FECAFOOT will have to be paid to the kit suppliers, LCS International.
“Le Coq Sportif reiterates its total support for the Indomitable Lions for the next World Cup regardless of the outcome of the court decisions. This is the message that its CEO, Marc-Henri Beausire, and Yannick Noah wanted to deliver in complete transparency and verbally to the partner interlocutors who wanted information.”
Jemea Teke, a sports journalist with Entersport24 says the saga between FECAFOOT and Le Coq Sportif is “a complex situation because we don’t know if there was a clause that gave either party to terminate the contract without any consensus.”
“What FECAFOOT should do is to call Le Coq Sportif on the round table and try to negotiate a settlement. Even as FECAFOOT is tabling their case that the jersey that the Lionesses had to wear for the AWCON was not available, FECAFOOT would have called a round table discussion and informed Le Coq Sportif that they have broken a clause in the contract and that we cannot continue the partnership but that was not made.”
The French sports equipment company is hoping to claim damage of 9 billion, 825 million FCFA. “We had not failed to draw the attention of the FECAFOOT as to the necessarily wrongful and abusive nature of such a termination, insofar as we have not failed to any of the contractual commitments that fell to us as equipment supplier of the Cameroon Federation for over three years,” wrote Marc-Henri Beausire boss of Coq Sportif.
