Cash-strapped Cameroon postpones last matches of season

YAOUNDE, Cameroon: Cameroon blazed a trail for African football in 1990 to become the first team from south of the Sahara to reach the quarter-finals of a World Cup.

But fast-forward to 2018, and football in the land of the “Indomitable Lions” — due to host the African Cup of Nations just months from now — is struggling.

The administrators of the country’s professional league have suspended the climax to the 2017-8 season for the top two tiers of the championship, saying they lack the money to go ahead.

They said it was “impossible to continue with the organisation of the championship in the absence of adequate funding,” Pierre Semengue, the president of the Professional Football League of Cameroon (LPFC) annnounced after a meeting with the administrators on Thursday.

“As a result, they have decided to postpone to a future date matchday 30 in MTN Elite One and matchday 25 in MTN Elite Two, which were initially scheduled for July 8 and 10 respectively,” Semengue said in a statement.

No date was given for when games will resume. The two divisions have 34-match and 28-match schedules respectively.

Cameroon’s professional football league regularly complain about lack of funding and equipment and often appeals to the state to fill the gap.

The country is due to host the African Cup of Nations next March, although the president of the Confederation of African Football, Ahmad Ahmad, has acknowledged that work to provide infrastructure for the competition is behind schedule.