After the national team’s dismal performance at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Gabon’s Sports Minister, Simplice-Desire Mamboula, announced broad penalties. These included banning senior players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga, suspending the entire squad, and firing the coaching staff.
The ruling was made following Gabon’s thrilling 3-2 loss to the Ivory Coast national football team, the reigning champions, on Wednesday. Bazoumana Toure scored the game-winning goal in injury time. The Panthers are now at the bottom of the group, behind Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Mozambique, following Gabon’s third straight loss in Group F.
In a televised speech late on Wednesday, Mamboula declared, “The government has decided to dissolve the technical staff, suspend the national team until further notice, and remove players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, given the Panthers’ disgraceful performance at the AFCON.”
Hours after airing, the announcement video was momentarily removed from official sites before being reinstated on Thursday.
After Gabon’s 3-2 loss to 102nd-ranked Mozambique on Sunday, which confirmed the team’s inability to advance to the knockout stage, the Council of Ministers had already reviewed the team’s AFCON performance. Citing a thigh ailment, Aubameyang later went back to Marseille, his French club.
President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema responded to the situation by characterizing the team’s performance as detrimental to the nation’s reputation. “This has undermined a portion of our national identity,” he declared in a formal statement issued on Wednesday. The national team’s difficulties, he continued, demonstrated “a lack of method and the dispersion of resources,” and he pledged to make “strong and structural decisions” to bring back ambition and discipline in sports governance.
FIFA forbids governmental intervention in the administration of its member football associations, hence the government’s intervention can result in punishment.
