Gabon’s sports leadership has taken dramatic action after the national team’s poor performance at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), announcing the suspension of the entire squad, the dismissal of the coaching staff, and the banning of veteran stars Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga.
The Panthers’ campaign ended in disappointment on Wednesday as Bazoumana Toure’s injury-time goal handed defending champions Ivory Coast a 3-2 victory.
The loss marked Gabon’s third consecutive defeat in Group F, leaving them at the bottom of the table behind Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and even Mozambique.
“Given the Panthers’ disgraceful performance at the AFCON, 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,” Sports Minister Simplice-Desire Mamboula declared on Gabonese television late Wednesday.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Super Eagles Defeat Gabon 4–1 to Reach World Cup Play-off Final
Shortly after the announcement aired, the video clip was removed from the ministry’s official platforms and the broadcaster’s online channels, only to be republished the following day.
Read Also
The government’s decision came after a review by the Council of Ministers following Sunday’s 3-2 loss to 102nd-ranked Mozambique, which eliminated Gabon from progressing to the knockout stages. Aubameyang, sidelined with a thigh injury, subsequently returned to his French club, Marseille.
“This has weakened part of our national identity,” President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema said on Monday, according to an official statement released on Wednesday.
He added, “The national team highlights two major problems: the lack of method and the dispersion of resources.”
The president pledged “strong and structural decisions” to “restore rigour, responsibility and ambition in the governance of national sport.”
However, Gabon could face complications with FIFA, which strictly prohibits government interference in the management of its member associations.
