It was at a press convention to announce Gabon’s squad for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in opposition to Burundi in August 2018 that Pierre-Alain Mounguengui admitted Gabonese soccer had an issue. After surprising revelations made by Shiva “Star” Nzigou – a former striker who performed for the French membership Nantes and gained 24 caps – {that a} community of paedophiles had been working within the nation for greater than twenty years, the president of the Gabon soccer affiliation (Fegafoot) since 2014 felt obliged to remark.
“Earlier than Shiva Star Nzigou’s statements, we knew that in Gabon there have been related indicators and different indications,” Mounguengui mentioned. “Previously, with out naming names, we had individuals in sure golf equipment and sports activities venues who have been employed to educate younger individuals, however the schooling of a kid begins on the grassroots. If they’re deformed on the root, it’s typically tough to straighten them out. If we will have adults [coaches] of excellent ethical character, I believe it’s attainable to stem this phenomenon.”
It doesn’t replicate nicely on Mounguengui’s feedback that in March, greater than six years on, Fifa handed Patrick Assoumou Eyi, the previous head coach of Gabon’s under-17 crew, a lifetime ban from soccer after an investigation into complaints that he sexually abused boys over a 15-year interval that led to 2021.
An investigation in 2021 detailed allegations that Eyi, often known as “Capello”, would lure alleged victims to his house, which he referred to as the “Backyard of Eden”, and that he supplied boys for different senior figures in soccer to abuse. These senior figures stay at massive. The worldwide gamers’ union Fifpro and several other of the alleged victims have warned that Eyi was simply the tip of the iceberg. Eyi has admitted to fees of raping, grooming and exploiting gamers.
“Capello isn’t the one predator in Gabonese soccer,” says Brice Makaya, a former participant who was assistant coach to the under-17s. “I nonetheless don’t get why some individuals haven’t been banned. They should be delivered to justice and banned from soccer.”
Mounguengui stays beneath investigation by Fifa over claims that he did not report alleged sexual abuse to the Gabonese authorities. He’s additionally awaiting trial in Gabon after spending nearly six months in police custody in 2022 and will resist three years in jail if discovered responsible of not reporting the abuse to the Gabonese authorities. There isn’t any suggestion he has been accused of sexual abuse and Mounguengui has denied the allegations made in opposition to him and mentioned applicable motion was taken as quickly as allegations of sexual abuse in Gabonese soccer have been made public. Parfait Ndong, a former Gabon defender who says that he has obtained dying threats after talking publicly concerning the alleged abuse within the sport, has referred to as on Fifa to droop Mounguengui instantly.
Fifa has but to behave on an impartial investigator’s suggestion in 2023 that he ought to be suspended instantly. The governing physique mentioned final yr it was persevering with to analyze and rejected any declare that it was not performing on allegations or data. It may be revealed that Fifa is trying into feedback made by Mounguengui in November 2023 when he prompt the investigation into Eyi had been a part of a plot to destabilise his presidency after he was re-elected for a 3rd time period in April 2022 – a number of days earlier than Mounguengui was arrested.
“It all the time coincides with the federation’s election,” he mentioned at one other press convention. “Right here we’re not in 2018 – between 2018 and 2021 nothing was mentioned. After which afterwards, a ‘Capello’ affair is introduced up. Folks have been used to offer testimonies … these are the substitute scandals simply to hinder Mounguengui’s candidacy.”
Mounguengui, a former worldwide referee who was elected as a vice-president of the Confederation of African Soccer final week having served on its govt committee from February 2018 till final yr, didn’t reply to questions asking him to elucidate his feedback. A Fifa spokesperson mentioned that, as a part of a basic coverage overlaying its impartial Ethics Committee, they might not touch upon whether or not investigations have been beneath means into alleged instances.
“Our youthful generations have to play in a protected surroundings,” Ndong mentioned. “I’ve made this promise to myself, my youngsters and all of the gamers I coached. We’re going until the tip of this course of however typically it’s very arduous … I hoped Fifa might assist us in an effort to clear our soccer from sexual abuses. However solely banning one coach isn’t sufficient.”
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An alleged sufferer, talking anonymously to guard his identification, instructed the BBC in 2023 that Capello was “a scapegoat. It’s the heads on the prime that ought to be rolling.” Fifpro has mentioned the case “illustrates the systemic nature of this grave drawback, the place a person could also be sanctioned, however the identical governance system that allowed it to happen within the first place stays. Underneath the present system, nationwide and worldwide soccer authorities mutually shield one another to the detriment of gamers.”
Remy Ebanega, president of the Gabonese participant union, mentioned gamers had skilled “horrific abuse” and that he anticipated “a full overview of the Gabonese FA’s suitability to control soccer in Gabon”.
It’s understood that the police have dropped fees of sexual abuse in opposition to Orphee Mickala which have been introduced in opposition to him in respect of his work on the Libreville membership Tout Puissant Akwembé. He’s again working in soccer at a junior membership. Fifa’s ethics committee has not introduced the end result of its investigations in opposition to Triphel Mabicka from Moussavou FC, who was provisionally suspended for 90 days in Might 2022 after being accused of sexual abuse. He has subsequently been charged with rape and sexual abuse of minors and pleaded responsible. The ethics committee is known nonetheless to be investigating different people over alleged sexual abuse in Gabon.
