As our compatriot Jean Rodrigue Atemengue argues, «In a country where government reshuffles are promised for months without materializing, public debate should not be hijacked by football.»

Here is his full open letter:

« Cameroonians,

The Cameroon national team failed to qualify for the next World Cup. Our Indomitable Lions will not grace the global stage. And yet, once again, we find ourselves consumed by football controversies, federation disputes, and debates over matches we will never play. Meanwhile, real wounds continue to fester across the nation.

The real question: are our priorities aligned with reality?

What’s even more troubling is that football itself—long seen as a unifying force that sometimes overshadows other national debates—is no longer the institution it once was. The diversionary tool is now in crisis.

Cameroon’s football, once a source of pride across the continent and a showcase of a nation competing with the world’s best, has become a shadow of its former self. Contested leadership, personal conflicts, repeated scandals, a federation mired in controversy, crumbling infrastructure, and young talent left to fend for themselves—culminating in a non-qualification that speaks volumes about the depth of the crisis.

We are not at the World Cup. Yet still, football dominates public discourse, as if nothing else matters. The irony is striking: we are expected to rally around a football system many now view as deeply flawed.

This isn’t a critique of football itself. Football remains a legitimate passion, a source of national pride, and a universal language that unites millions of Cameroonians beyond political, ethnic, or social divides. Samuel Eto’o is a figure justly admired for his legendary career.

But football should not serve as a curtain behind which we hide from the urgent issues shaping our nation’s future—especially when our team is absent from the world’s biggest stage.

So what should we be discussing?

In a nation where government reshuffles are long overdue yet repeatedly delayed, public discourse should not be monopolized by the ball.

In a nation where Parliament was convened in extraordinary session to revise the Constitution and create a vice-presidential position—yet that position has remained vacant for months after the reform’s implementation—our focus should be on how our institutions function.

In a nation where the Council of Ministers and the Superior Council of the Judiciary have not met for years, we should question the very normality of our institutions.

In a nation where ministers resign and remain in interim roles for months, where parliamentarians and senior officials pass away without replacements, priorities clearly lie elsewhere.

In a nation where a judge issues an arrest warrant while circulating memos instruct police officers not to enforce it, we should be questioning the rule of law—not FIFA rankings.

In a nation where a provisional release order issued by a judge is publicly denounced as a forgery, it is the credibility of our justice system that should concern citizens—not football rankings.

In a nation where roads crumble, public contracts remain unfulfilled, access to clean water and electricity is precarious in many areas, youth unemployment persists, and the cost of living weighs heavily on households, football cannot reasonably be the central topic of conversation.

Who benefits from this distraction?

Every time public debate fixates almost exclusively on football controversies, other issues fade into the background. Institutional, economic, and social concerns lose visibility while challenges remain unaddressed.

Intellectuals, academics, journalists, and opinion leaders carry a particular responsibility in this context. Dedicating the bulk of public space to sports controversies while the nation grapples with profound institutional questions risks prioritizing noise over reflection, emotion over analysis, and spectacle over substance.

This isn’t a call to abandon football. It’s a call to prioritize wisely.

When our institutions function fully, when justice inspires trust, when roads are passable, when young people find employment, and when essential services meet the needs of the population, we can talk football as much as we want.

But today, making football the main topic of conversation amounts to turning a blind eye to our most urgent challenges. Continuing to debate a football system in crisis—as if it still embodies our greatest national achievement—means ignoring a painful dual reality: the decline of our football and the deeper struggles our nation faces.

Cameroonians,

We deserve a public debate worthy of our challenges.

We deserve institutions that inspire trust, credible justice, responsible governance, and a public sphere that enlightens rather than distracts from essential questions.

The history books will remember those who had the courage to ask the right questions—not those who chose to debate a tournament Cameroon will not attend or a football system still searching for renewal.»