Colombe Sportive du Dja et Lobo will play in the CAF Champions League group stage for the first time. CamerounWeb takes the opportunity to question the record of Samuel Eto’o, president of FECAFOOT.
The news came out of the CAF draw: Colombe Sportive du Dja et Lobo, drawn from pot 4, has been placed in Group C of the CAF Champions League. The Cameroonian club will face RS Berkane, Simba SC and Orlando Pirates, according to CamerounWeb. It is a first for the side, which had never reached the group stage of the continent’s premier competition.
The club earned this qualification on the pitch. After knocking out Stade Malien on penalties in the first round, reports SuperSport, it eliminated Senegal’s Teungueth FC 3-0 on aggregate, according to CamerounWeb. Winners of the last two Cameroonian championships, Colombe are thus gatecrashing the big time, and their run also shines a light on the record of Cameroonian clubs on the continental stage.
A tough Group C for a newcomer
In Group C, the club will have to deal with three opponents used to continental battles, CamerounWeb points out. The draw took place in the presence of several CAF guests, including Achille Emana, the former Cameroon international with 43 caps and 7 goals for the Indomitable Lions, according to Camfoot.
The other guests were Oussama Darragi, Mudather Eltaieb and Alain Traoré, Camfoot specifies. For Colombe, the qualification is first and foremost the fruit of their performances on the pitch, and Group C promises to be a test against experienced clubs.
Eto’o’s record under the spotlight
While Colombe Sportive du Dja et Lobo’s qualification is good news for Cameroonian football, it also serves as a springboard for a critical analysis. According to CamerounWeb, the club becomes the second Cameroonian side to reach the group stage of an African competition in five years of Samuel Eto’o’s leadership at FECAFOOT. The outlet presents the figure as a damning finding, with this line attributed to it: “Two clubs in five years: 2/5, an average of one club every two and a half years! In mathematics, some would say, that’s a poor grade!”
CamerounWeb raises the question of the record of the Eto’o era at the head of the federation. This assessment is the outlet’s editorial analysis, not an established fact. It takes nothing away from Colombe’s sporting merit, earned through their results: the facts reported do not link FECAFOOT to this qualification.
The presence of a second Cameroonian club in the group stage in five years thus raises questions about the consistency of the country’s representatives in African competitions, an issue CamerounWeb puts on the table.
A date in November
The first matchday of the group stage is scheduled for 27 to 29 November 2026. Colombe Sportive du Dja et Lobo will make their first steps in the competition there, against RS Berkane, Simba SC and Orlando Pirates in the same group.