This was during a tripartite meeting of Fecafoot, Minsep and the Professional League officials at the star building recently.

Like the proverbial Oliver Twist who asked for more, football club presidents have asked for a substantial increase in the subvention awarded them to jump-start the professional league in Cameroon. During a meeting at the Star Building on Wednesday November 14th, the club presidents suggested an increase from the FCFA 560 million presently given them, to about FCFA 4.2 billion. That is FCFA 200 million for every Elite One club and 100 million for Elite Two clubs. The money, the club presidents said during the meeting which also involved officials of the Professional League, Fecafoot and the ministry of Sports and Physical Education, would enable clubs to be well structured, acquire the necessary infrastructure and pay handsome salaries to players to curb the talent drain.

The amount is not exaggerated given that countries like Gabon and Equatorial Guinea gave over five billion to kick-start the professional league in their countries. Already the effect is being felt as Cameroonian footballers increasingly migrate to Gabon to earn better salaries. The latest departure is that of Maxim Mengue who used to play for Canon of Yaounde. He will be joining a large Cameroonian colony in Gabon made up of prominent players like Bill Tchato and Kunde Emmanuel. These countries to become the new destination for Cameroonian footballers who want to seek for greener pastures.