By Nformi Sonde Kinsai
The national junior tournament that groups top teams from the ten provinces of Cameroon, kicked off in Yaounde on August 15.Roving Ambassador Albert Roger Milla carried out the kick-off of the game at the Amadou Ahidjo Stadium annex.
Mbella (centre) and MTN officials
He told the teams involved in the tournament to shun indiscipline and foul play, noting that only the best team is going to lift the trophy. Milla told referees too, to handle the matches with fairness.
In the opening Group A matches played on August 15, Colaco of Bafoussam and Coton Sport Jr. of Garoua played a goalless draw. Ziver of Mokolo suffered a two-nil defeat from CETEF Douala. In Group B, Espoir of Ngaoundere thrashed Avenir FC of Bertoua by 4 goals to 1 while Olympique of Ebolowa and Achille of Yaounde played a goalless draw.
During a joint press conference by officials of FECAFOOT and MTN ahead of the tournament on August 10, the 1st National President of FECAFOOT, Jean René Atangana Mballa, who also doubles as President of the follow-up committee of the FECAFOOT-MTN convention, said the junior national tournament is the first to be jointly organised by his federation and the mobile telephony company, MTN.
He noted that the training of junior players who can easily step into the shoes of players under the senior category is the pre-occupation of FECAFOOT. Atangana said the ten representatives emerged after the organisation of championships in the various provinces.
The National Coordinator of Junior Football, Andre Nguidjol, said the tournament will be taking place in the two annex pitches of the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium.He said all the teams are being lodged at Lycée de Nkolbisson, a neighbourhood in Yaounde.
He said MTN has provided 40 footballs for the tournament as well as a complete set of jerseys to the participating teams. He noted that the winner at the final would bag FCFA 500,000; the second team is going to receive FCFA 300,000 while the third will bag FCFA 200,000.
He said the security and health of the players is being assured by MTN. All day long animation for the duration of the tournament, according to Nguidjol, is being taken care of by MTN.
The representative of MTN, Cyrille Kemayou, who is in charge of the MTN- FECAFOOT convention at the company, refuted allegations that the tournament was postponed several times because his company was insisting on the proper management of funds.
He, however, stated that it is necessary that at one point a break should be taken to carry out evaluation. He said funds for the competition, which stands at FCFA 69 million was shared into two.
Part of the money, according to Cyrille, was used to organise the junior provincial championship while part has been programmed for the finals in Yaounde.Responding to questions, Atangana wished to see the junior tournament continue on a regular basis hoping that the state would come in to support the initiative.
He argued that as the state supports educational establishments, such support could also be extended to sport training centres including football. He cited the construction of stadiums at Akonolinga, Mbouda and Guider by MTN, noting that the company needs to be praised.
The following teams have been grouped into Pools A and B, respectively.
Group A: Colaco of Bafoussam, Coton Sport Jr. of Garoua, Ziver of Mokolo in the Far North, AS CETEF of Douala and Brasseries Football School of Bamenda.
Group B: Ecole de Football Espoir of Ngaoundere, Avenir FC of Bertoua, Olympic FC of Ebolowa, Achille FC of Yaounde and Tiko Young Stars from the Southwest Province.
this cameroonian authorities are big frauds.if i got the message right,69 million available to fund the tournament and only 1 million is given as a price of encouragement to this youngsters who are the most active participants of this event.to my opinion this is pathetic.peace.
Posted by: tita espoir | Friday, 18 August 2006 at 05:09 AM
What is draging Cameroon football behind is corruption and embzzlement of the FECAFOOT officials.They only want to amass wealth for themselves and care less about the young talented footballers who will represent Eto'o,Song,and the rest.
Why should they collect the little 60 million only to tell the public that they have donated but 1 million frs.
We hear recently Cameroon must organise the next African Nations Cup in 2010 as FECAFOOT officials have been shying away from their responsibility.The major cause is the lack of infrastructures and corrupted executives who use money for their personal issues and never think of the future of Cameroon football.They should not forget that the youths are out for something serious than to usew them for publicity and sell them out later to 3rd and 4th division clubs to suffer in Europe.I know many of such guys today.
Fritzane Kiki
Hong Kong
Posted by: Fritzane Kiki Hong Kong | Friday, 18 August 2006 at 10:56 AM
why don't they build stadiums and host nations cup!!!! thieves
Posted by: henry | Sunday, 20 August 2006 at 10:32 AM