After the national team’s dismal performance at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Gabon’s Sports Minister, Simplice-Desire Mamboula, announced broad sanctions. These included banning senior players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga, suspending the entire squad, and firing the coaching staff.
The decision 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 after Gabon’s third straight loss in Group F.
In a televised speech late on Wednesday, Mamboula stated, “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 it aired, the announcement video was momentarily removed from official sites before being reinstated on Thursday.
The Council of Ministers had already reviewed Gabon’s AFCON campaign after the team’s 3-2 loss to 102nd-ranked Mozambique on Sunday, confirming their inability to advance to the knockout stage. Citing a thigh ailment, Aubameyang later rejoined his French team, Marseille.
In response, President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema said that the team’s performance was detrimental to the nation’s reputation. In an official statement issued on Wednesday, he declared, “This has weakened part of our national identity.” 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 reinstate ambition and discipline in sports governance.
FIFA, which forbids governmental intervention in the administration of its member football associations, may impose sanctions on the government’s intervention.
