Former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o under fire over €567k Russia match payment into personal account

Samuel Eto’o is facing scrutiny after former Cameroon Football Federation executives questioned the whereabouts of over €500,000 paid into the former striker’s personal bank account.

The money was paid into his account following a 2023 international friendly against Russia.

Documents reportedly show that the Russian Football Union requested two payments totalling €567,570, directed to an account Eto’o held with Qatar National Bank in Doha.

The money was the match fee for Cameroon’s friendly against Russia in Moscow in October 2023.

However, former officials at the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) claim there is no clear evidence that the funds were subsequently transferred to the federation.

Guibai Gatama, a former member of FECAFOOT’s executive committee, told the Times that no accounting or banking evidence shows the money reached the federation’s official accounts.

Gatama also claimed that Fecafoot’s statutes require the organisation’s funds to be held in accounts in its own name rather than personal accounts.

He and another former official have complained to FIFA’s ethics committee about Eto’o’s conduct. They say they have received no update on the investigations.

That silence has prompted more questions because of Eto’o’s close relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Eto’o is one of Infantino’s most prominent supporters.

He recently declared that he would campaign for all 54 African football associations to back the FIFA president in his bid for re-election.

FIFA has insisted that Infantino has no influence over its independent judicial bodies and rejected suggestions that the president could interfere with an ethics investigation.

The latest controversy adds to a turbulent period for the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea forward since becoming FECAFOOT president in 2021.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) banned Samuel Eto’o for four matches after Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-final defeat to Morocco earlier this year.

CAF’s Disciplinary Board found him guilty of misconduct during the fixture in Rabat. They also fined him $20,000 as part of the decision.