Infantino cheerleader Samuel Eto'o accused of €500k Russia payment scandal

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FT Desk

Samuel Eto'o, former football superstar and current president of the Cameroonian FA, has been accused of mishandling two payments made by Russia into his personal bank account.

The Times reports that demands were previously made by the Cameroonian FA for two payments of €455,056 and €112,514 to be paid into Eto’o’s account with the Qatar National Bank in Doha.

The former Barcelona, Inter and Chelsea star hit headlines last week when he became one of only a few public figures within the game to show support for under-fire FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

"Football is already a commercial product! Who funds football? Companies that buy advertising space," Eto'o told L'Equipe.

"Who owns those companies? Europe looks out for its own interests, too, under pressure from clubs.

"Why should we be judged for looking out for ours? Today, President Infantino is giving Africans the chance to dream of developing the sport. He has helped improve African football, otherwise, we wouldn't see so many federation headquarters being built.

"We funded part of it, while the rest came through FIFA's support via the FIFA Forward project. It’s tangible. And it will allow us to develop talent. In a few years, when we have players like Roger Milla or [Kylian] Mbappe, it will be thanks to that funding."

Infantino's FIFA Forward Enterprise plan would have seen an injection of funds made to every single FIFA member country in the world. But, crucially, that extra investment would have come from private equity and those firms would have had a say in how FIFA competitions, such as the World Cup, would be run.

The plans were scrapped after just a few days due to the overwhelmingly negative reaction from just about everyone.

Now Eto'o finds himself involved in another financial scandal.

The money that was paid to Eto'o was for a friendly fixture between Russia and Cameroon in Moscow in 2023. The Times has confirmed that Cameroonian FA dignitaries who were forced out by Eto'o say the location of that money is currently a mystery.

Formal complaints about his conduct were made to FIFA's ethics committee a year ago and those former officials believe Eto'o is being protected by Infantino as there has been no word since about an investigation.

A FIFA spokesman said: “The FIFA president has no influence over FIFA's judicial bodies, which are independent. FIFA welcomes legitimate scrutiny. But scrutiny is not a license to amplify unsubstantiated allegations in relation to the FIFA president.”

Guibai Gatama, a former member of the Cameroonian FA's executive committee, said the money had gone missing.

He told The Times: “To my knowledge, there is no accounting or banking evidence demonstrating that the funds transferred to Samuel Eto’o’s personal account in Qatar were subsequently transferred to an official Fecafoot account or recorded in its accounting records.

“Neither Fecafoot nor Samuel Eto’o has denied the existence or authenticity of these transactions, as the documents are damning.

Fecafoot's laws dictate that any payments made to the federation must be held within official company accounts, not personal ones.

“Cameroonian football stakeholders interpret FIFA's silence as political and institutional support for Samuel Eto’o,” Gatama added.

“This perception is reinforced by the close relationship he publicly displays with Gianni Infantino and by the institutional support he continues to receive, notably through the FIFA Forward Enterprise project. When accusations as serious and documented as these result in no visible investigation, while the official concerned continues to be publicly promoted by FIFA, it becomes legitimate to speak of protection.”

Gatama’s submission to FIFA’s Ethics Committee comes after a separate complaint filed in 2024 by former Fecafoot vice-president Henry Njalla Quan Junior, who accused Eto’o of match-fixing and abusing his position of authority.

Njalla Quan questioned the relationship between Eto'o and Infantino, telling the Times: “Mr Eto’o has publicly expressed strong support for Mr Infantino, including arguing that African football has benefited from his leadership.

“That is, of course, his right. But when such strong political and institutional alignment exists amid unresolved controversies, legitimate questions about the nature of that relationship are bound to arise.

“It would therefore be reasonable to ask: is there an element of political reciprocity arising from the support he himself has received from Fifa and Mr Infantino during difficult periods?”

Since retiring in 2019, Eto’o has faced several legal and disciplinary disputes. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to tax fraud in Spain and received a suspended prison sentence, a €1.8 million fine and an order to repay tax owed.

He has also faced FIFA and CAF disciplinary proceedings, including a six-month FIFA ban and a CAF fine over a Russian betting-company agreement. He has additionally faced allegations of match-fixing, abuse of power and financial misconduct, though these remain allegations rather than proven offences.