FIFA Accused of Silencing Concerns Over Gianni Infantino Ally’s Major Financial Allegations
Barcelona legend and three-time Champions League winner Samuel Eto’o is back in the headlines for the reported mishandling of thousands of dollars worth of international match fees, with FIFA accused of failing to properly investigate the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot).
Sporting Intelligence first reported last year concerns over a $600,000 match fee from a friendly between Mexico and Cameroon in June 2023 in San Diego which appeared to have disappeared, and The Times have now added accusations of mishandling more than $580,000 (€500,000) that Russia paid nearly three years ago for an October 2023 friendly match against Cameroon.
The hefty match fee was deposited into Eto’o’s personal account with the Qatar National Bank in Doha in two separate payments, per The Times. Former Fecafoot executives, claiming they were forced out of the federation by the former star player himself, state that the whereabouts of the funds remains unknown.
“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,” former Fecafoot executive committee member Guibai Gatama said.
“Neither Fecafoot nor Samuel Eto’o has denied the existence or authenticity of these transactions, as the documents are damning.”
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Gatama and his colleagues filed a formal complaint to the FIFA ethics committee over a year ago. They have yet to receive follow-up communication from world soccer’s governing body, a situation the former executives can’t help but link to Eto’o’s close personal relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
“Cameroonian football stakeholders interpret FIFA’s silence as political and institutional support for Samuel Eto’o,” Gatama said.
“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.”
Eto’o and Infantino’s Relationship Comes Under Fire
FIFA’s president has been at the center of his own fiery scandal ever since his plan, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), was leaked to the media in the days following the 2026 World Cup final. Infantino’s initiative to sell stakes of future FIFA competitions, including World Cups, to private investors was met with immediate and global backlash, including from powerhouse UEFA, who condemned the president’s attempt to slap a “for sale” sign on the sport.
Eto’o, a long-time ally and close friend of Infantino, has contentiously been the Swiss man’s loudest cheerleader in the wake of the now-scrapped proposal, going as far as to suggest FFE should be resurfaced if Infantino wins re-election next March.
“I don’t think that President Gianni Infantino has done anything wrong,” Eto’o, heralded as one of the all-time greatest African players, said last month. “I am convinced the voices that were raised [against Infantino], those are not the voices of the majority.”
“President Gianni Infantino has changed football,” Eto’o added, providing a level of emphatic support that was actually cited by FIFA in recent legal documents amid criminal threats by UEFA. “He’s given opportunities to nations that didn’t have those opportunities to take part in the most beautiful tournament, the World Cup. He enabled smaller nations to get seats at these competitions.
“He has helped our continent. He’s helped our federations to develop much more quickly, and we need to acknowledge that. We need to accept and recognize what he’s done, and we should support him for everything he’s done up to now.”
As recently as this week, Eto’o, once again, came to Infantino’s defense, taking a rather personal stance. “In my heart, president Gianni has become, well beyond the world of football, a brother, a big brother, a friend, someone we watched to come to the fore, someone we’ve supported, with whom we have built things together that serves football,” Eto’o told France24 on Thursday.
“I will vote for him for everything he has brought to African football,” he added.
But, in addition to that, I will campaign among my fellow presidents so that, for once, all 54 presidents of the Confederation of African Football will vote in favor of Gianni.”
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Former Fecafoot vice-president Henry Njalla Quan Junior filed separate complaints to FIFA’s ethics committee in 2024 that accused Eto’o of match-fixing and an abuse of power. Similar to Gatama, he believes Eto’o and Infantino’s close relationship may be the cause of slowed or halted ethics proceedings.
“When such strong political and institutional alignment exists amid unresolved controversies, legitimate questions about the nature of that relationship are bound to arise,” Quan argued.
“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?”
FIFA insists that Eto’o and Infantino’s relationship has played no role in the ethics committee’s investigations. “The FIFA president has no influence over FIFA’s judicial bodies, which are independent,” a spokesperson told The Times. “FIFA welcomes legitimate scrutiny. But scrutiny is not a license to amplify unsubstantiated allegations in relation to the FIFA president.”
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