New football reform outlines vital provisions for teams

There has been some vital changes in the administration, payment of bonuses and conditions of admission to the various categories of national selections.

The president of the Republic, Paul Biya, last September 26th signed a degree modifying the provisions of the presidential decree of October 31st 1972 on the organisation and functioning of the national football selections.

The degree contained some ground breaking reforms geared at revamping football in the country. The modifications are in the domain of administration, payment of bonuses and conditions of choosing players into all the categories of national football selections.

Administration In the domain of administration, the most fundamental reform is the scraping of the administrative directorate which used to be lodged at the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education and the duty of the administrative director will henceforth be played by a coordinator to be appointed by the president of the Cameroon football federation.

The coordinator will oversee the administrative, sporting and technical activities of all categories of national selections. However, the financial management of the selections will be jointly carried out by government and Fecafoot according to conditions to be précised by a special convention and statutes yet to be enunciated by both institutions.

Conditions of admission As concerns the conditions of admission of players in the various categories of national selections, special provision has been made to protect home-based players.

For instance, seventy per cent of payers called up to the national U-20 squad should be home-based and thirty from outside the country while in the U-15 and U-17 categories will be entirely made up of local players. Upon their selection, Fecafoot has to inquire about the administrative and disciplinary situation of the players.

Most importantly, players called up to the national team should henceforth take an oath of engagement to respect the rules and regulations of the squad. Still in a bid to encourage patriotism and discipline, players will henceforth be provided civic education to replace the military training which was inscribed in the 1972 decree.

Payment of bonuses On the problematic issues of payment of bonuses, it has been clearly stated that all players and members of the technical staff are entitled to bonuses whose amount shall be determined by the president of Fecafoot and MINSEP.

All payments will be done by Fecafoot though the government will provide the funds under the form of subventions. Also, a clear date line was established for the fixing of the amounts of bonuses long before the beginning of continental and global competitions.

Six months before the beginning of the final phase of the, World Cup, three months before the Africa Cup of Nations or Olympic games, two months before official matches, one month before a qualifier match and 15 days before a friendly match.

This is to avoid any last minute misunderstanding that can affect the performance of the players like before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when players went on strike.

Another fundamental difference in the 2014 presidential decree is the recognition of 11 categories of national selections in football as opposed to the 1972 decree which makes mention only of the senior and junior national teams.