By email

- FIFA Professional Football Department

- FIFA Member Associations

- FIFA Players’ Status and Governance Department

25 April 2019

Re: Non-payment of salaries in Cameroonian football

Dear Sir/Madam,

We refer to our previous letter dated 6 February 2019 as well as to your letter dated 18 February 2019,
and would like to provide you with an update in this matter. More importantly however, we ask for
your immediate intervention.

We have been informed that following your letter of 18 February 2019, the Cameroon Football
Federation (FECAFOOT) set up an Ad Hoc Committee to solve the issues raised by FIFPro and the
players’ union in Cameroon (SYNAFOC) related to the non-payment of salaries in Cameroonian
football.

It is our understanding that the aforementioned FECAFOOT Ad Hoc Committee is composed of 2

representatives of FECAFOOT, 1 representative of the Cameroon Professional Football League (LFPC),
3 club representatives and 3 representatives of SYNAFOC. Yet, oddly enough, it appears that the
president of the FECAFOOT Ad Hoc Committee is in fact also the president of one of the clubs in
Cameroon. Even more peculiar is that it appears that the club concerned is New Stars de Douala, i.e.
one of the clubs which FIFPro and SYNAFOC specified as having overdue payables (cf. letter dated 5
February 2019, enclosed to our letter of 6 February 2019). In other words, the president of the
FECAFOOT Ad Hoc Committee tasked with investigating overdue payables of clubs, is the president of
one of those clubs (!). We respectfully submit that this does not comply with basic principles of good
governance.

In addition, and to make things worse, it has come to our attention that last week New Stars de Douala
played an away-match in Yaoundé and that – after not having obtained a positive result – the president
of the club decided to punish the players by abandoning them in Yaoundé, the bus making its (300 KM)
way back to Douala without the players (https://www.afriquesports.net/foot-africain/cameroun-
ligue-1-des-joueurs-abandonnes-a-plus-de-300-km-de-chez-eux-apres-une-defaite/camareoun-
ligue1/138610 ).

__________________________________________________________________________________
Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels
Scorpius 161 • 2132 LR Hoofddorp • The Netherlands • T:+31(0)23 554 6970 • F:+31(0)23 554 6971
We respectfully submit that the FECAFOOT Ad Hoc Committee should not be presided by a club
president to begin with, let alone by a president of a club which has outstanding debts to its players.
What is more, it is certainly incompatible to have a person presiding this important committee who
seemingly has very little respect for the wellbeing of the club’s own players.

On account of the above, it is in our view very doubtful whether the investigations of the FECAFOOT
Ad Hoc Committee can be considered reliable and, as a consequence, we kindly ask FIFA to intervene.

Additionally, on the basis of further information provided to us, we also have severe doubts as to the
manner in which this investigation is effectively conducted. With reference to our letter addressed to
FECAFOOT dated 25 March 2019 (which we enclose and to which we – regretfully – did not receive a
reply from FECAFOOT), we wish to point out that in accordance with the standard players’ contract in
Cameroon, all salary payments are to be made by bank transfer. What is more, in accordance with
Cameroonian law, in case of a dispute in an employment situation regarding the payment of salaries,
it is the employer’s obligation to prove that the relevant payments have been made.

In this context, we are surprised to learn that, according to SYNAFOC, the clubs in Cameroon –
apparently supported by FECAFOOT – have asked SYNAFOC to provide evidence that the payments
have not been made. Evidently, apart from it being against Cameroonian law, a player can simply not
prove a negative. As such, it should be made clear to FECAFOOT and the professional football clubs in
Cameroon that the burden of proof to establish that the relevant payments have in fact been made,
lies with the clubs and thus not with the players or SYNAFOC.

Moreover, we cannot omit to mention that a number of Cameroonian professional football clubs has
been putting severe pressure on their players to sign documents confirming the receipt of cash
payments, whereas such payments have in fact not been made at all. As previously mentioned, this is
incompatible with the standard players’ contract, and any cash payment receipt signed by players
should therefore not be accepted, without an explicit confirmation of SYNAFOC that such payment has
indeed been made in cash. The pressure on these players continues and we urge FIFA to put a stop to
this.

It is for this reason that in our letter to FECAFOOT of 25 March 2019, we made it clear that in the
context of establishing whether or not payments are still due, only the following documents can be
accepted as reliable proof:

i. A bank statement; or
ii. A written confirmation of the player that the salaries have been paid in cash, while
confirmed by a statement of a representative of SYNAFOC present at the time.

We once more wish to point out that FECAFOOT - as the governing body of Cameroonian football –
has a regulatory obligation to implement measures to protect contractual stability and must therefore
ensure that the players in Cameroon are being paid the salaries they are entitled to. The measures
they have currently adopted are far from effective and the independence and the reliability of the
investigations of the FECAFOOT Ad Hoc Committee are – at the very least to say – questionable.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels
Scorpius 161 • 2132 LR Hoofddorp • The Netherlands • T:+31(0)23 554 6970 • F:+31(0)23 554 6971
Finally, we wish to inform FIFA that almost three months have passed without a satisfying solution and
without the players receiving their salaries. This, together with the threats of clubs to sanction players
who complain about their unpaid salaries, have resulted in several strikes amongst players who are
fed up with the current situation. A swift solution is therefore of the utmost importance.

For these reasons, we kindly – but urgently - ask FIFA to immediately intervene, initiate its own
investigation and ensure that the players in Cameroon are being paid their salaries.

We thank you for taking note of the above and look forward to hear from you.

Yours sincerely,

Theo van Seggelen

Secretary General
FIFPro

Encl. As mentioned

__________________________________________________________________________________
Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels
Scorpius 161 • 2132 LR Hoofddorp • The Netherlands • T:+31(0)23 554 6970 • F:+31(0)23 554 6971